Mystic Falls to the Dead
by RainbowSandvich
Summary: Set just as the world starts having big walker problems. The good people and supernaturals of Mystic Falls begin to fear that the local animal attacks are more than vampires. Then the group meet the Atlanta camp. Rated M for fudge words. Message me if you wish to take this story and continue it or redo it. I will not be continuing it, I'm sorry.
1. Case 14

Chapter 1: Case 14

**Disclaimer: This story is based on characters created by L.J. Smith and Robert Kirkman, as portrayed in the the two different TV series created by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, and also that which is created by Robert Kirkman. All rights to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.**

**A/N: Okay then, I decided rather than do a big summary chapter, or an epic plan, I would get straight into writing, I mean, last time I did the big summary chapter and wrote up epic plans, that ended up being all I wrote.**

**As for the two stories, The Walking Dead is set in the days just before the zombies went from regional health hazard to international invasion, it is set in Mystic Falls, Virginia, and all I can say at the moment is that the people of Mystic Falls are close enough to Georgia, they may or may not get to meet Dale and the survivors' group. The Vampire Diaries is set in a parallel story, there are none of the big problems posed by originals, Kathy, etc, plus Stefan and Elena are together. Whether or not zombies will bring Delena together or apart will be revealed!**

**Enjoy reading my first fanfic! The more reviews the faster I'll update!**

[Liz Forbes' POV]

A pained look fell upon Sheriff Forbes' face as the deputy approached her desk with the report of the fourteenth "animal attack" of the week.

"It certainly doesn't look good Liz, this isn't like the others, it looks so, so _careless_. I'm convinced that this one isn't of vampire origin at all. Apparently these weren't even totally drained of blood."

He spread the accounts and gruesome images across the table.

"You're right; it was one thing when that hiker was found in the morning a few days ago on the doorstep by the gas station shopkeeper, but this isn't just the regular jugular. This is just a ravaging. Where were they found?" I asked.

"On the main highway next to their SUV. The guy that found them is the second one here." The deputy answered, pointing to a picture of a mid-thirties man with an arm barely attached to his body.

"When we arrived the second person reported by him was gone, and he was so traumatized he could not talk. I guess that happens when your arm is hanging by a few threads. He's hospitalised with 13 similar cases."

It was high time that I visited the Salvatore's.

"There isn't much I can do here without following this up with some people." The deputy blinked.

"People…?" He prompted me to tell him who the "people" were.

"Some councillors." I answered back quickly.

"Sure, sure, well good luck with the council then. I best get back to my post."

If any of these attacks were done by either one of the Salvatore's then it will just about completely erase any welcome they had. It would be a shame, but I must work for the people, not the vampires.

[Damon's POV]

"Hey Damon." Elena called as she entered the kitchen.

"Hello Elena." I replied, switching on my 200 kilowatt smile and then turning down the energy so that I didn't burn any of the remaining neurones in Stefan's dull mind.

"Morning brother." I called overly cheerfully as he came in after Elena.

"Morning, what puts you in a good mood?" Stefan asked with a hint of the same old suspicion.

"Oh, I don't know, I just feel good, I hope you don't mind." It was true; I had woken up on the right side of the bed this morning.

"Ok then. Well we're going out after breakfast." Stefan appeared unconvinced, but he didn't press further into my oh-so sinister happiness.

Elena's phone vibrated in her pocket. She casually took it out and scanned the message, her expression seemed unconcerned at the text, and she replied. "Apparently we should be watching the news, it's from Caroline," She said quietly, "It doesn't seem like bad news at least."

Elena turned on the TV, the local news, to the proceedings of filler about rescued kittens, or something… delightful. It was then followed by what will presumably be the news Caroline was talking about.

"It has come to our attention that the recent spate of animal attacks carries an added threat. Although it cannot be confirmed by Centres for Disease Control and Prevention officials, a new disease has entered the North American ecosystems; it is a zoonose, meaning that it can cause harmful effects in people. We advise that until this has passed or has had a suitable cure developed, for the sake of safety, that you avoid coming into contact with any wildlife.

In related news, wild animal attacks are up 12% this week, throughout the US. We now go to Dr. Edwin…"

"Vampire uprising?" I asked. Taking it seriously, Stefan replied:

"I don't think so. Did you hear it say about the illness? Hmm." He fell into thought about the likelihood of such uprisings.

Then a car drove up the drive.

"I'll get it, probably Jer asking something." Elena mused, heading for the front door. This was unlikely seeing as Jeremy didn't even have a car.

[Liz Forbes' POV]

I pulled in beside Stefan's red sports car and got out, looking in I could not see anyone in the front rooms, although the upstairs curtains were still closed. I couldn't imagine everyone was still asleep at this time however.

I approached and rapped curtly on the door twice.

"Oh hello Elena, is Damon around?" I asked politely.

"Yes, he's in the kitchen, I'll go get him." She said with a polite smile.

"Why hello Liz, what have I done to have you grace my humble home this morning?" Damon went out with his regular charm accompanied by his smile, but with what was going on I failed to see much in it today.

"Damon, there have been 14 attacks on people this month and I want to know if you know anything at all about this."

"Well there was one thing…" he began.

"What Damon?" I cut back.

"Yeah, the news you see? These ones were actually totally normal."

"14 attacks in a month are not normal, and you know what I mean."

"Ok, maybe I did nibble on the second one…" He replied, still not serious.

"The one that appeared to have human, or _vampire_, bite marks surrounding the shoulder, of which the arm was hanging by bare tendons? The man is still alive, but is in a state of absolute shock in ER." I deadpanned. At this Damon's smile dropped.

"Honestly, sheriff, I know nothing." Damon spoke with a serious, sobered tone.

"10-18, 10-18 POLICE DISPATCH, WE'VE GOT A BIG SITUATION AT THE HOSPITAL. ASISSTANCE REQUIRED ASAP TO-" The sheriff's radio squawked with angry chatter.

"10-10 first floor of the ER block. 12 patients are attacking staff, patients and visitors."

"Oh god. I have to answer to them immediately Damon. Just stay away from the hospital."

[Stefan's POV]

Turning off the TV, me and Elena picked up our bags and set out for the door now that the sheriff had finished talking to Damon. Then Damon came in through the door with an almost fearful expression.

"Stefan? Elena? Liz was telling me that there have been 14 attacks this week. It sounds like one very mean, very stupid vampire is around town."

"I know it's crazy, but are you sure these attacks aren't like the animal attacks on TV?" Elena queried.

"It doesn't sound like that at all. Liz said some of the people had bite marks from vampires. Well, bite marks were visible at the ends of the arm- that is, where the shoulder ended and the dismembered arm began."

"That's horrible." Elena gasped with a sharp intake of breath. She put her hands to her mouth in a defensive, fearful stance.

"She had to go to an emergency down at the hospital and it sounds _bad._ So be careful you don't get eaten by crazy vampires!" Damon called as he walked away, to the liquor cupboard, no doubt. Elena moved her hands from her face and picked up the strap of her bag.

"Damon, shut up." I replied.

Me and Elena walked out to my car, got in, and set off for town. The sun shined brightly through the conifers and oaks. From my open window morning songbirds called to each other.

Today did not seem like a day for death.

**A/N: Ok guys! Short chapter this time around! But I promise to make following chapters longer!**

**Review and favourite!**


	2. Vampires At The Hospital?

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading my first chapter! I promise to update at least once every two weeks, but maybe more frequently if I really take this in my stride and if I get plenty of reviews! As of right now, I really have taken it in my stride; I'm surprised at how quickly I'm writing this! I'm well into chapter 3 right now.**

**Enjoy!**

[Stefan's POV]

I drive through the normal, sunlit streets of Mystic Falls. Despite what Damon said about the attack going on at the hospital right now, the town square kept its pleasant atmosphere, people going into the Grill for breakfast and coffee, shopkeepers opening up for the day's business.

It was not safe for me to go to the hospital, especially not with Elena. What if there were other vampires in a blood craze? Or worse, what if there was blood?

My face paled at the thought.

"Stefan? Are you ok? Are you thinking about the hospital?" Elena asked with worry etched into her expression.

"Yes, I'm worried of what is happening and who is getting hurt." I replied slowly.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure the sheriff can handle it."

I slammed on the brakes, causing Elena to lurch forwards, narrowly missing the dash.

"Sorry." I mumbled, watching three squad cars hurtle across the junction toward the hospital, sirens wailing and lights flashing.

"Give me warning next time?" Elena groaned.

"Err, yeah, sure. Sorry." I replied, looking forwards again as I resumed the drive to Mystic High.

Excited and anxious chatter filled our ears as we entered the parking lot; it seemed that everyone had heard about the hospital incident too.

"Do you think it's the animal virus?" someone called.

"I heard that the virus came from Europe." To which someone replied with;

"No, wasn't it made in a lab in the mid-west?" A few people laughed at this, while others shook their heads.

As I found a space I saw Caroline approaching us.

"Hey!" She called.

"Hey Caroline." Elena replied.

"How are you?" I asked.

"I'm doing good, thanks Stefan. I guess it's all in my instinct. Did you get my text Elena?"

"Yeah, crazy news. Probably just some news story that got blown out of proportion. Where's Bonnie and Jer, they ok?" Elena asked, we hadn't heard from them since yesterday evening, but it was unlikely that they were in trouble. Since Elena's Aunt Jenna had died at the hands of Klaus, Elena had become increasingly protective over her brother, Jeremy. We were both very thankful for Bonnie and Ric's help.

"They're fine Elena," Caroline assured her in a slightly tired tone; "They're already going to class is all."

"You know me Caroline, I can't be too careful, especially with this news about animal attacks. And I guess you've heard about the hospital fight? It's probably still happening, right now." Elena spoke with a fearful and somber voice.

Then the morning bell rang, students headed to first period.

"We best get going to class Elena, see you, Caroline." I said as Caroline turned to go to her class, and us, to ours.

[Liz Forbes' POV]

"11-60! That backup better be coming fast! Wait- we're being attacked! Jeez, this could be on the news soon."

I raced across town; I then broadcast my own message,

"This is the sheriff. I'm on my way, on the street of the hospital."

I arrived at a scene of organised officers preparing to enter the ER block. Police lights flashed across the grounds and a barricade had been set up to stop any citizens getting in the way. There was a fire truck just outside this perimeter, and 3 ambulances were on stand-by. Seeing one of the deputies who appeared to be taking charge, I got out and ran over to her.

"Alright, what is the situation?" I demanded.

"It's looking bad. There are 16 of them, all patients, and they are all from the same block. Now what is really weird is that 14 of them are the animal attack victims, plus one of them _bit_ another patient, and, and, he seemed to be _dead_ when a doctor entered the room. But after going to check him, he got up and then they all attacked and swarmed into the corridor. The doctor came out looking to be mauled by a dog." The deputy looked shaken up and unsure of what to do.

"What? Are you telling me that the 14 patients of the animal attack are biting people? How are their movements, tell me about their _eyes_."

"Well, I have sent in 2 teams of 8 to try and deal with the situation, but they have a lot on their hands. These patients, or attackers, will not stop, and are apparently delusional. As for their movements, they are slow-"

"Are you sure they are slow?" I cut in.

"Yes, they are reported to be 'slow', and 'shambling almost as though intoxicated'. They will not talk or acknowledge anything besides the people they attack. I haven't heard of their eyes."

"DEPUTY! WE CAN'T TAKE THESE PEOPLE DOWN! THEY'RE CRAZY! PERMISSION TO SHOOT." An officer screamed down the radio.

"Permission granted!" I shouted back.

A hail of fire rang across the block.

"They're down, no wait- oh dear God. They are GETTING BACK UP!" The same officer shouted, then more bullets were fired, then he spoke again:

"Sheriff, deputy, they are dead. But not before they bit a panicking nurse and 2 men. It seems that shooting for the head is the only thing to bring them down. How many are listening to this?"

I can't be sure, at least me and a deputy." I replied.

"They are NOT _them_. They are something else, something not human, but not _them_." He almost whispered, in a terrified voice.

"I am calling the state office. Make sure there are no more of them, and see to all injuries. Don't let anyone into the ER block, and evacuate everyone that is still inside."

I pulled out my police mobile and called the office of Mystic Falls County.

"This is division 7: Mystic Falls County. Sheriff Forbes?" An operator for the department spoke.

"We have a situation down here at Mystic Falls hospital. We have just had to gun down 16 civilians and we have 3 others that have been bitten by these attackers."

"Elizabeth? I am so sorry to tell you this. But this situation is rapidly growing to more than just a town or even county issue. It is almost national."

"What the hell is this? Are they slow vampires or something!" Oh dear. I just implied that vampires exist to the state department.

"Vampires? This may sound crazy, but it almost seems that way. People come in with bites, only these bites are always from peculiar issues involving people biting people, usually with intent to kill. These bites appear to be infectious. They admit themselves to hospital, and then they suddenly become insane and attack anyone unlike them."

"How many cases?" I ask.

"Approximately 224,000. But we can't be sure."

"224,000 is a national level, right?

"No. It is only state-wide, and it is growing. The national level is far greater. Listen, we are going to send a platoon from the National Guard, which is how this system is being laid out. I just hope there is a readily available unit. I'm sorry, I am going to have to hang up on you, further contact details for this crisis will be sent to your office. But I have several other calls to attend to. Good bye." The operator hung up and the line fell silent.

[Caroline's POV]

The lunch bell rang and I headed out to meet Bonnie and Elena in the cafeteria. An unseasonably chill wind had swept over town so it was too cold to hang around outside. Just before reaching the cafeteria my phone began vibrating in my bag. Looking at the screen I found it was Mom.

"Mom? Hey, it's still school, is something wrong?" I asked.

"You need to come home right now. It isn't safe at school." Liz replied.

"What? Why?" I gasped.

"The attack at the hospital… I don't know what exactly had happened to the people that were bitten, but they began turning around and trying to bite everyone. I had to order nearly half the department to open fire on them. They did not fall until… until…" She stopped and began breathing heavily.

"Mom!" I cried aloud, and several people stopped and stared.

"Just come home. Now, please." Mom was on the verge of sobbing. I had to tell my friends. I walked quickly, almost running, to the cafeteria where my friends were.

"What's the matter Caroline?" Bonnie asked; her eyes wide at my distressed appearance.

"Mom just told me to go home, now. She's really freaked out by the hospital attack, and it sounds like they were all vampires." I announced with a considerably shaky voice.

Then Stefan stood up, "Caroline, tell me everything that the sheriff said."

"She said all the people that had animal bites got up and started trying to bite other people, then she told her unit to fire at them, which took them down after something happened."

"After what? You need to tell me if you can." Stefan's voice was slower and more soothing.

"But that's just it," I shrug, "She kind of stopped talking and broke down, after telling me to go home right now!" I was beginning to shriek a little, and it was rubbing off on the crowd in the cafeteria, who were also on edge.

"Maybe we should all go back, maybe to the boarding house." Stefan suggested.

"No, Stefan, I don't think that will help, we're probably better here in a crowd, I think we would be better waiting it out to see what they do." Elena spoke up.

"I won't go anywhere without you, Elena. But are you completely sure you want to stay here? What about you, Caroline?" Stefan replied.

"I would rather stay with you all. I don't want to be on my own, and mom has her police force, she won't be going home anyway." I wasn't sure at all of what to do, I wanted to go with Stefan's first plan, because then we could be out of town and with Damon to keep us safe.

"Care, I'll be able to keep you safe, you won't be on your own, I promise." Tyler, though with a pinched frown, spoke warmly.

"Thanks Tyler. But maybe we should stay here with everyone. I mean mom won't even be home if I went back, she's at the hospital sorting out the mess. Wait, she said they were dead anyway. So what is the problem?"

"Maybe you're right. I don't know about all of you but I want to stay and get on with things normally, I've had enough of crazy and freaking out, so let's just do normal." Jeremy placed his input into the conversation.

"Well that settles it then, are we all staying together at school?" Elena asked to a reply of nods and approval.

[Damon's POV]

Now what was I doing again? I had just put down my book and was in the process of walking through the library door. Oh yes, I was about to head out to the Grill, hoping to meet up with Ric after he finished work, but there's no harm in getting a few shots beforehand…

I pick up my leather jacket and head for the stairs… however; I then catch a glimpse of two figures moving to the front door. I stop and look back but they left my view. Shortly after I heard someone knocking slowly on the door. What's up with that? They continued knocking. Then another sharper knock on the door accompanied the first, but only happened twice and quickly.

"Ok, ok!" I shouted.

I opened the door to be greeted by two disgruntled hunters, one loosely carrying a broken rifle, the other with a face covered by a jaunty, low baseball cap.

"Can I help-" Suddenly the two hunters charged at me, which caught me off guard completely.

I threw down the rifle-carrying 40 year old, and he collided quite sharply with my heel, breaking his neck. But then, he began to get up again!

And that was when the younger man with the baseball cap forced me against the wall and bit down on my arm.

**A/N: The first encounters with the walking dead, well, the dead-appearing undead, rather than the healthier vampires. Will Damon be infected? Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, I wanted to end on this cliff hanger! Feel free to look up the police codes! I will refrain from using them more though, because it will only confuse some people.**

**I also promise you that chapter 3 is where things really begin to hit off!**

**Review and favourite!**


	3. Damon Is Attacked

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! DarkAngel1864 (My amazing girlfriend that inspired me to begin writing here in the first place): I hope I don't disappoint with this chapter!**

**Bkaa19: I hope you keep on enjoying the direction this chapter takes!**

**Hope you liked the cliff hanger of the previous chapter! Without further ado I will reveal Damon's fate of the two undead hunters**

[Damon's POV]

He bit into my arm. At this I moved my quickly away and then grabbed his head on both sides of the temples, smashing it against the wall. When they were both motionless on the ground I hoisted them over my shoulder and took them to the cellar and locked them into the room where vervain once grew.

I took off my ripped jacket and examined my arm.

The bite had not even penetrated my shirt beneath, if anything the coat was ripped only when I moved my arm away… what a _weak_ bite.

I guess I'll just have to go without my jacket to the Grill.

[Elena's POV]

As much as Alaric was an improvement on getting "Tannered" every lesson, history still wasn't my favourite subject. Especially when the lesson was about wars of the 20th century. Since the attack at the hospital, there had been no news of anything out of the ordinary, and now everyone was back into the normal school life of socializing and being bored by typical lessons.

"So, easy question here, does anyone know which president was in office from 1945 to 1953?" Alaric asked. Most of the hands were raised, including my own for once.

"Harry Truman, Mr Saltzman." Someone said.

"Well done. Harry Truman was the 33rd president…" Alaric began, but I chose to zone out and check my texts discreetly. The first text was from Bonnie:

"U Bored 2?" She asked.

"Yep. Haven't we studied this before?" I sent a reply.

After sending her a text I got a different message from Jeremy:

"2 people had to leave class, 1 had really bad bug and kept itching his arm, 2nd was girl leaving because her mum was ill in hospital ER" This sounded worrying, but could easily be an overreaction to everything that had happened so far today.

"Don't worry bout it for now." I sent a brief reply to try and calm him down.

"Elena? Can you answer the question for us?" Alaric smirked, he knew I wasn't listening.

Stefan cleared his throat, causing Alaric's smirk to waver and fade as he awaited Stefan's answer.

"1951."

"Well done Stefan… on July 10th, the armistice negotiations began at Kaesong."

"Thanks Stefan." I whispered.

"You're welcome." He whispered back, and smiled.

After that it was a small matter of sitting through history, the last period of today. I listened occasionally to get an idea of what Ric was talking about. It seemed that he was spending the lesson talking about the wars of the 20th century.

Once he got into the 60's and was part of the way through explaining the Vietnam War the bell rang and the school day ended.

"Ok guys, we've ran out of time. I want you all to go and research Vietnam for tomorrow's lesson, please. Have a good evening." Alaric called as everyone packed away. Then a girl with a worried look approached him.

"I don't know if I'll be able to get the work done."

"Why? It's quite small… Shouldn't take more than 10 minutes." Alaric replied, smiling reassuringly.

"It's my dad, he's really sick in hospital. He got the bug that's going around. I was going to go straight to the hospital."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Well, don't worry if you can't get it done and I hope your dad gets better soon." Alaric replied solemnly.

Stefan and I walked out to his car

"I've been thinking that we should drive by the hospital to see how things are, I don't think we'll be able to get in there, but we should get close enough to the ER block to see if it's back to normal or not, do you think that's a good idea?" Stefan announced his idea.

"Err, sure. Do you think its safe enough to go?" I asked as we got into the car.

"That is what we will be finding out. If it's dangerous then I can drive away fast." Stefan replied.

There weren't as many people out on the streets as usual, there wasn't much less, but the quieter main street was obvious enough. Most people would drive their cars from shop to shop, making sidewalks quieter and roads not a lot busier due to the absence of part of the commuters.

A state news van overtook us and drove on towards the hospital, not quite but almost speeding. We decided to follow at a similar speed. Then we saw the van stop 2 blocks before the hospital, we drove on until we found why the van had stopped so far away.

"Stop the vehicle sir! Police have cordoned off the area!" An armoured state police officer declared.

Stefan opened his window and asked: "What is going on up at the hospital? And what have you done about the people in this cordon?"

"There is a riot at the hospital and anyone outside of the immediate hospital surroundings has been evacuated. Police forces are doing what they can to handle this incident and we ask that any uninvolved or evacuated citizens find elsewhere to go and stay. What business did you have in coming here?" He questioned.

"We were going to visit a friend at the hospital, but they weren't too badly hurt, I'm sure they have been moved. Broken arm is all that was wrong. Sorry for disturbing you sir, but we will turn around and be on our way." Stefan replied in as polite a way as possible.

"Very well." The officer stepped back and went to discuss with another officer.

"What on Earth is going on here?" I asked Stefan.

"I don't know at all, I've never heard anything like it. But with the news teams going around, I bet they got some coverage." He replied with the most puzzled look I had ever seen. But it was a dark confusion, with his eyes dark beneath his frowning brow. He was frightened of whatever was going on at the hospital.

"Why did they evacuate everyone when it's supposed to just be a riot? Couldn't everyone just walk out or stay inside?" I asked.

"I have no idea. I think it is something to do with the mysterious goings on."

[Alaric's POV]

After marking some paperwork and seeing the time, 4:42PM, I figured that now was a good time to finish work. Amidst all the crazy goings on that for one thing sounded like a complete hoax, there was still something going on. 7 students had to leave during my classes, 3 of them all ill with what was apparently the illness that had been blown out of proportion by the news networks. But all the same, when I said things were going on, I meant that something supernatural was at work.

However, supernatural happenings wouldn't be stopping me from getting a shot or two at the Grill.

"Euurgh!" I shouted out when I smelt the most terrible rotting smell coming from the next corridor over.

I walked around the corner, but besides the smell getting stronger, nothing appeared to be wrong. Before I gagged on the stench I decided to head quickly out.

The cold breeze had become mild, but a little stronger as I walked out into the sunset and the car park.

I got into my SUV and drove to the Mystic Grill to meet Damon for a drink, as had become common.

"Hello Alaric… like my new style?" Damon asked me as I walked in; he didn't have his jacket and was instead wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

"Ok, tell me what happened to your jacket." I asked, it was pretty obvious that it was more a missing jacket than Damon acquiring a new fashion sense, albeit only a very slightly changed one.

"Come and sit down and I'll tell you." He offered me a seat and spoke in a lowered voice.

"It got ripped when two _incredibly_ weak amateur vampires tried to bite me. Doesn't make much sense though when I'm quite a lot older than them and a vampire too. So I cracked their heads and tossed them in the cellar."

"Why didn't you kill them?" I asked.

"I wanted to ask them what they were doing on my property and why they wanted me for lunch, but felt it better suited that they were alive and on the other side of a heavy metal door."

"Couldn't you handle them as they were, just knock them down and tie them to a chair or something?" I smirked at the thought of Damon being too weak for two seemingly newborn vampires.

"I wasn't in the mood for tying them up," He made a mock-yawning stretch, "And I wanted to arrive here a few drinks ahead of you." He smirked back at me.

"What did you do around here anyway? The Grill is so quiet today, only the regulars like us are around. Did you scare everyone off?" I quizzed in a conspiratorial whisper

"You would've thought that was the case, but no. Seems everyone is worked up over the hospital being cordoned off for a riot or something."

"What?" I was serious now; "I haven't heard anything of a riot, I heard rumours of an attack at the hospital, but seriously, I've been in the dark about this… I need to watch the news more."

"Basically, there's been a vampire attack, or disease or something; it's been going around a bit, and what's happened is that it has got to Mystic Falls, to the hospital. And now everyone is turning into vampires, but slow, stupid ones. For now, no one really knows what is going down. It could be nothing but it's probably big." Damon explained in his concise, blunt way.

"Best get drinking before I end up being a vamp's dinner." I replied.

"I'll drink to that. Then I'll drink you." Damon smiled.

Me and Damon drank our Bourbon in one gulp, simultaneously.

"Two more bourbons, sir!" Damon called.

"Here you go guys." I paid the bartender. Then my phone rang.

"Hello." I spoke first.

"Ric? I couldn't call Damon earlier, he won't pick up." It was Elena. Damon heard and leaned in;

"Sorry about that, my dear, I left my jacket."

"Where are you both?" Elena demanded.

"We're at the Grill."

"Well we're at the house and there are two dead bodies in the cellar. What did you do Damon?"

"Elena! Be careful, they're vampires and they're probably not dead!" Damon raised his voice, but only the bartender turned and gave an interrogating stare.

"We'll be there as fast as we can." Alaric stated.

[Damon's POV]

We got into Alaric's car; I could go back for mine later. Seeing as I'm the one with the super-vampire reactions, I took the liberty of the driver's seat.

"Damon? What are you doing in my seat?" Alaric questioned.

"I'm the one that has superb reaction times remember?"

"Here, you need the keys." Alaric rode shotgun and I remained in his driver's seat.

As I reversed out I had to quickly stop when someone suddenly sat up from the ground.

"Grrughh." They groaned and moved their hands to their head, before pushing themselves slowly up off of the ground.

"Damn drunks." Alaric grumbled. I drove forward and reversed around the person, and quickly drove off down the road. Another person ran out into the road to the person, and then dialled a number on their phone.

The roads were almost completely abandoned, and it seemed that the few drivers around were packing for some sort of road trip, though the majority continued normal business.

A police cruiser roared past.

"Was that blood! On that cruiser!" Alaric yelled. To answer his question, I rolled down the window and sniffed the air. I was met with a blast of a tasty metallic tang.

"Yep." I called back.

"What the hell is happening?" Alaric murmured.

"I haven't the faintest idea, but blood is blood!" I replied.

"It's not funny Damon." Alaric sounded quite angry.

Finally, we arrived at the Boarding House.

"Damon! The bodies have not woken up. Are you sure they were vampires? They have been dead since we were found them. And they don't look healed at all." Stefan said to me when I got out of the car. I ran down to the cellar and looked through the bars.

"Where's Elena?" I demanded.

"She's in the lounge. I made sure she's fine." Stefan reassured me.

"Well, they both tried to bite me, and the one that I dropped the baseball cap on is the one that ripped my jacket trying to bite me. Anyway, so Barbie and Ken didn't decide to join us?"

"Who?" Stefan replied.

"Caroline and Tyler." I deadpanned; surely it was easy to tell who "Barbie" was in this town.

"Funny. No, nothing else really happened, so Jeremy went home, Bonnie probably went with him, and Caroline went with Tyler to her house." Stefan explained.

"Guys! I think you should come and look at this!" Elena cried.

Alaric didn't hear her; "What's happening!" He shouted.

"Elena!" Stefan yelled just before charging up the stairs to her. I followed, then overtaking Stefan.

"The news!" She pointed out.

"…Although not certain. It is believed that the disease is not from wild animals, or any animals. No animals appear to be susceptible to the disease. It is confirmed that the disease is most prominent in Louisiana, although this cannot be confirmed to be the area with the most infected or to be the first state affected. Of the main continental USA, the infection so far is non-existent in some northern states.

More importantly are symptoms of this illness. It has been studied in the University of Richmond, which was promptly closed prior to infected students being on-site. The symptoms are a high fever; all-around body pain and aches; coughing up mucus and blood; lethargy; fatigue; then death. HOWEVER! Something not yet understood with the disease is that the disease will sometimes bring out insanity in most people, producing a shuffling, inhuman, animalistic killer. Do not approach anyone you believe to be in the in this condition as they can and will attempt to kill you. They cannot be reasoned with and cannot even speak. They are frighteningly strong but also slow and clumsy. They are nearly impervious to pain…"

"This has been broadcasting ever since I switched on the TV. Look at the local channels."

"Here in Roanoke we are observing wide-scale riots based around this disease, looting, shoot-outs, fires, infected peoples attacking the uninfected."

*switch channel*

"We apologize for any inco- This is news centre 5. Hello I am reporting for this station on the recent updates of the outbreak across Virginia and Tennessee. It seems that this disease is often more common in rural areas, but there have been cases within cities such as the Tri-Cities, Richmond, Virginia Beach, amongst others. We advise that you keep calm while this situation is controlled by the health departments.

Reactions to this have been various; many areas have hardly reacted at all. Although some extreme cases have been that some peoples have left for unaffected states, some even to go abroad. There have been some small town riots, which involved fighting and looting. Police forces have been handling this to the best of their ability. We now go live to a more deeply affected town, Mystic Falls in Virginia." The newscaster somehow forgot to say their name.

The reporter was live outside the hospital, in the night. Flashing lights from police, ambulances and fire trucks were all across the street and grounds. Two army trucks were parked in the emergency entrance, which wasn't being used because of the condition of the emergency room.

"Hello I'm Tim Smith standing in for the regular reporter whom I believe is currently reporting elsewhere in the states.

As you can see from behind me, the town of Mystic Falls has recently had an attack centred on the hospital's ER block. It was believed to begin with approximately 20 people, and it spread and grew to a riot. Patients affected with the new disease were believed to become angry and distressed, attacking other patients and staff at the hospital. As the day continued on, injured police officers on the scene were believed to suddenly turn on their cadres and teams, after a phone call from the sheriff, who is unavailable for comment, the state department sent in a National Guard unit which has supposedly handled the situation. Due to the violent, incoherent nature of the attackers, there have been a multitude of deaths and other casualties.

Today has been a dark day for the small town of Mystic Falls; however the chamber of commerce and town government has declared the town safe and the hospital and surrounding area should reopen within the day. Though it is thought that the ER block may have closed areas until it can be proven free of the disease."

I switched off the TV to stop it repeating itself.

"Well. What an interesting coincidence." I drawled.

"Hmm. Definitely doesn't sound like vampires." Stefan said.

"Do you think?" I snapped sarcastically.

"So all that's been going on and I didn't know because I had missed the news for the last few days?" Alaric said, sounding more than a little shocked.

"Yep, it would seem that the world has gone a little crazy. But it will all blow over in about a month at most." I replied.

"But it might get worse… what happens then?" Elena asked quietly, stunned by what she had seen.

"This is a big strong house. I'll ran down to the mall a few times, stock up on liquor and munchies, we'll be fine." I spoke confidently.

"It wouldn't be that easy Damon." Stefan warned.

"Course it would! I managed to handle two at human speed, zipping in and out of the groceries will be simple." I claimed.

"I think Damon's right, and I also think that this won't get much worse, this town handled the tomb vampires, so it can handle a bunch of bumbling crazies." Alaric cut in.

"Well, let's sleep on it and see how we feel tomorrow. I'm feeling really tired out." Elena said.

"Are you feeling ok?" Stefan asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just tired. I know what it said but I'm not sick." Elena sighed.

"I'll drive you home." Stefan offered.

"Thanks." Elena smiled.

"See you later Saint Stefan." I mock-saluted him, he shrugged and smiled.

[Elena's POV]

I had no idea at why I was so tired, but besides tiredness I felt fine. We sat in a comfortable silence as he drove along the deserted, tranquil streets.

We arrived at my home and he walked me up to the door.

"Goodnight Elena, I love you." Stefan spoke softly, smiling.

"Night Stefan, I love you too. See you tomorrow." I replied, softly, and then I yawned a little. When I opened my eyes Stefan was leaning into kiss me. I laughed quietly and we had a brief parting kiss on the lips before I closed the doors to go straight upstairs to sleep.

**A/N: I hope this chapter has been even better than the last and I hope I'm not going to fast or slow-paced for you. Chapter 4 is going to have more action in it too! But you'll have to forgive me if I made any mistakes on the WCYB and other news networks in this chapter! After all I only knew about WCYB after looking it up whilst writing this!**

**Review and favourite!**


	4. Just Your Regular School Day

**A/N: Nothing like being in the winding corridors of an old school building… I hope you enjoy this chapter! The heat begins!**

[Elena's POV]

There it is again.

I had been kept awake for nearly an hour by some trucks driving around the neighbourhood.

And a helicopter was flying low overhead.

Finally they went away and I got back to sleep.

All too soon I had to get up, ready to face the day of school ahead of me. Yawning and stretching, I slowly climbed out of bed. But then I quickly moved to the window when I heard an ambulance driving down the street. Looking out the window I saw a crowd had gathered around a crashed car. The ambulance had stopped near to it and the paramedics were taking the driver out of it…

From the damage, it appeared that the car hadn't been going very fast, but the driver wasn't moving.

The paramedics then put the driver in a body bag… most of the people looked or walked away. I stayed at the window until the ambulance was gone. No police arrived to the scene.

"Oh hey Jer. Sleep well?" I asked

"Not really. Some big trucks were driving up and down last night. I think they were army, you?" He replied, looking at me with bleary eyes.

"Same. And the helicopter. Let's have breakfast." I announced.

"Sounds good." Jeremy sighed.

I brewed coffee for me and Jeremy and then made myself buttered toast.

"Damn. My phone's battery ran out in the night." He plugged his phone into the charger on the counter.

I went upstairs to shower and brush my teeth. 15 minutes later I was packing my bag, nearly ready to go.

"You going with Bonnie today?" I called.

"Yeah! I'll see you at school!" He yelled back from the living room.

I saw Stefan arrive on the street outside, so I grabbed my bag and walked to the door, but stopped at the living room when I heard the sounds of a riot and of screaming on the television.

"_What_ are you watching?" I narrowed my eyes at Jeremy.

"Local news Elena. It's a riot in the next town over. There have been so many riots and attacks recently," He replied, "It doesn't make sense though. What are they rioting about? I've heard crazy things from monsters to the end of the world but here we are in normal life."

Then a reporter commented on the scene: "What you see here has been confirmed to be a direct result of the virus spreading across the continental US. Reports state that it has spread to other countries including some more local overseas countries. State officials are advising that you remain calm and _vigilant_ of any infected people who may be under a form of psychosis."

Stefan knocked on the door and called

"I'm sorry but we're running late Elena, there was a bad accident on the main street. Let's go."

"Bye Jeremy. Be careful." I cautioned him, amidst all the frightening news; I was almost surprised that Mystic Falls hadn't already been destroyed like the news kept proclaiming.

[Liz Forbes' POV]

The radio signal began to waver and die out.

"Liz, we can't hold them back any more. They are heading to your town. There mu-"

…

"-Good luck."

[Elena's POV]

"How long has that car been there like that?" Stefan asked.

"I don't know, when I woke up the ambulance arrived to take the driver away."

"So no police?"

"No… Are they busy at the other accident?" I asked back, confused at what he was trying to ask or suggest.

"That's just it though. There are no police here, and there was only one cruiser and two officers. I wonder where they all are." He mused.

"That makes two of us." I spoke into Stefan's own musings.

We pulled into the high school parking lot. Although we were late, it looked as though half, maybe less, of the students and teachers were here… how odd. We were able to drive right up to the entrance, as the spot that was usually filled by the principal was empty. "I don't like this at all Stefan. Where are so many people? The police, the principal… who else?" I whispered.

"I don't know. I just hope everyone we care about is ok." Stefan spoke in a similar, dreading quiet as me.

We rushed to our lesson, expecting to be scolded for being late; we were mistaken when we found that it was a substitute teacher. The old, bespectacled man spoke:

"Ahem, why are you late?" His face wrinkled up with an almost comical frown.

"Uh… we had a meeting with the principal about us having time off of school." He didn't seem to notice my stalling to find a suitable lie.

"Very well, sit down please." He turned back to teaching and waved us off. We sat down quickly and quietly. "Please can everyone take out their trigonometry textbooks? Err, yes. Page 74." He fuddled around at the front of the class finding the page to check it was correct.

"Sir, where is Mrs. Halpern?" Somebody asked.

"I am not supposed to say this;" He looked down his thick-rimmed glasses uncomfortably, "But Mrs. Halpern has not reported in and so far cannot be contacted, for all anyone knows she could walk through the door at any moment."

Stefan looked at the door with apprehension.

"Afraid of hard work?" I teased.

"I guess." He laughed, to which the supply looked down his glasses sternly at him.

"Can we have a working atmosphere, please?" He announced, mainly towards Stefan.

Several easy sections on triangles… incredibly tiring but at least they were easy. There was some work with protractors, and some work with calculators, though these tools did most of the math.

"Err, hey, do you have a pen I can borrow? My pen just ran dry." A pale-faced boy next to me asked, seeing as we were all sat in different seats, I didn't know him.

"Sure, use this." I replied quietly, he reached out for my pen as I passed it over, exposing three bruises along his arm and a long, nasty scratch… and an infected bite.

"Oh my god." I whispered, the words made barely any sound at all as I looked in abject terror. He then looked very uncomfortable and quickly pulled up his sleeve. "Are you ok?" I whispered anxiously.

"Not really, I feel sick. I don't want to talk about it." He turned away with a hunched back.

"Stefan!" I hissed, to which he turned slowly to not attract attention. "The guy next to me… he's been attacked by something."

"Or someone." Stefan replied darkly. The infected boy then huffed, breathing in quiet pants.

"S-sir." He called out, pain laced into his voice.

"What is it, son?" The supply asked with concern.

"I feel like. I'm gonna be sick. Can I please go to? The toilet?" He forced the words out.

"Go ahead, quickly now." He ran for the toilet, stumbling along the way. "Well? Back to work, people." He snapped as he realised that everyone had stopped to watch, by the looks on their faces similar to mine and Stefan's, they too realised that the boy was infected with the virus.

Me and Stefan continued to work to take our minds off of what had happened, or what was happening to that sick boy.

"Annnnd… that's time folks." The lesson seemed to pass by so fast. Next period was history with Alaric.

"Was he…? Was he bitten by a person like they are saying is happening? He had an infection in the bite on his arm. And the bite was big." I asked Stefan as we left trig.

"I don't know, no one can be sure right now. Are you sure it was a bite?" Before I could reply a scream split through the corridors. Me and Stefan looked at each other with wide, fearful eyes. But then it was followed by a laugh, which made us relax again…

"GET HER AWAY FROM ME!" a man shouted, then causing us to again be very tense and worried. Then there was one, two, four, a dozen screams coming from around the corner. A group of students and a teacher fled past us. Shuffling and groaning rounded the corner, closely followed by a grotesque woman. Like a vampire, she had blood all around her mouth, but quite unlike a vampire were the bite wounds to her neck and the pencil protruding from her stomach where someone had attempted to take her down with a stabbing.

Stefan then charged at her and quickly snapped her neck, but to no avail. I screamed as she continued to groan and gasp, reaching for Stefan.

But he was easily too fast for her and he brought her crashing to the ground.

"Run!" He shouted. "I'll catch up with you!" I ran as fast as I could, I did not look back.

"Elena! Stop! In here!" Alaric shouted, stood at the door to his class room. I followed him in to find Bonnie.

"I arrived early, and when those _things_ started coming after people changing period, I came straight here." Bonnie explained. "Where's Stefan?" She asked, concern and confusion written across her face.

"He's dealing with one of them." I replied, emotionless, nothing had hit me yet. Stefan entered the room quickly, slamming the door.

"Shh!" Alaric hissed.

"They can live without their hearts, but not their head." He deadpanned.

"Where's Jeremy? Where's everyone else?" I demand, I then quickly turn to my phone to check texts.

My phone reads: "2 missed calls from Caroline, 1 missed call from Jeremy." I quickly dialled Jeremy's number.

"*huff* Elena?"

"Jeremy! Where are you?"

"Hiding out in the men's room. I found some guy and he's ok. He's called his dad to pick him up."

"You need to come to Alaric's room as soon as you can."

"But I can't, I'm helping Greg."

"TAKE HIM WITH YOU!" I shrieked.

"Okay! But it might be hard. A lot of people went down in the room outside, I don't know when or if they'll come back like the news said."

"If you are quick, you can make it here."

"I'll try to be careful. See you in a few minutes."

He hung up.

"Where is he and who has he got with him?" Alaric asked.

"He was hiding out in the toilet; with a person called Greg that he said was ok. But there's trouble. The corridor outside supposedly had a lot of people being attacked."

[Jeremy's POV]

"Do we have to go back out there?" Greg questioned.

"Yeah… I'm sorry Greg. But if we can get to my sister, she has friends and a really tough boyfriend, he's called Stefan."

"Oh right, the Italian one?"

"That's right. Ok, let's go, but be quiet!" I hissed the last word quietly. Greg nodded curtly, and with a determined expression plastered onto his face, but even I could see it wavering with pure, animal fear.

We stood behind the door and pulled it open. To anyone outside it would appear as though no one was there, which gave us a few seconds to dodge an attack, whether offensive or defensive, from the bloodbath outside. Waiting a few seconds, we curled around the door to see nothing moving.

A soft noise of our feet stepping on liquid was the only noise, and that liquid was the blood of the closest victim, an 11th or 12th grader boy, his blond hair slicked with blood from where he had fallen and been trampled. We walked through the trail of destruction and were careful not to step on the bodies.

"Ungghhh." A deep, shuddering voice moaned, me and Greg exchanged a quick, fearful glance.

"Wuh. Wuh-ayy-ttt. Wait…" The man was still alive. "Down here, yer left." We looked down to our left and made eye contact with someone from my sister's grade. "Hayyy-lp… You gotta help me."

"I'm so sorry man." Greg said, shaking his head slowly.

"What's the matter? Oh. Ahhh…" He cried out so quietly and his eyes glazed over as he realised that he had lost a lot of his torso to something eating him, something that must have been killed in order to not still be eating him now.

"Damn." I whispered through gritted teeth, my own sight blurred with tears. We moved as quickly as we could whilst keeping quiet. After we passed through some double doors and began making our way to history we found no more bodies, and none of the undead. What we did find was mass destruction. There was one door which had had the lock broken by numerous people or undead that broke in. There were papers, books, stationery scattered. There was even an old, bloody computer monitor with the screen caved in from an impact most probably on an assailant's head. With the absence of glass it could be assumed that someone somewhere had various sizes of glass shard embedded into their skull.

I laughed bitterly at my own thinking; it was funny how violence and death could warp my thoughts to include the gorier of details.

"What's so funny man?" Greg spat.

"I was laughing at how I should pity my thinking, now that it has been exposed to death and destruction."

"Right, 'kay." we jogged to make the last few feet to Alaric's room. The room next to his had been blocked with two collapsed filing cabinets, and scrawled on them in permanent marker were the words:

"KEEP OUT DEAD."

"What does that mean?" Greg asked.

"It doesn't matter; we are going to Alaric- Saltzman's room." I hear the light sound of something landing on Greg's shoulder caused him to inhale sharply, it was a hand. It instantly switched from his shoulder to his mouth, and another hand to mine.

"Just a regular day at school, Jeremy?"

Damon.

"Don't suppose you saw an old pc screen lying around?" He asked with more than a hint of dark glee.

"That was you?" I asked, now that he had slowly removed his hands from covering our mouths.

"You had some trouble between the little boys' room and here, so I crushed it with the old thing."

"Then where did it go?"

"It's out the window."

"Can we just get into Mr Saltzman's room?" Greg complained, to which Damon gave him a fierce look. Greg immediately shrank away. The three of us moved the last few steps to Alaric's room, Greg following closely behind. Damon opened the door quickly and forcefully, causing everyone inside to jump back.

"Jer!" Elena cried, she ran to me, crushing me in a tearful hug.

Sometime later she stepped back and allowed me to scan my surroundings. Alaric's room had managed to remain completely tidy, a pocket of normality in this chaotic school.

[Stefan's POV – During the time when Jeremy went from the bathroom to the classroom]

"Oh Stefan, what if he doesn't make it?" Elena whispered.

"Shh… you mustn't think that way lovely love." I soothed, wiping the tears that were falling from her wide eyes. "I know what we could try. We can try calling Damon."

Alaric raised an eyebrow and Bonnie scowled.

"Is that wise?" Alaric questioned.

"If we tell him the situation properly then yes. Damon will want to keep us safe, even if he doesn't think things through," I replied, "I'll call him now." I dialled and the phone rang once before he picked up:

"Isn't it against the rules to make phone calls in school little brother?" Damon's attempts at joking seemed relentless.

"It isn't against the rules when most of the teachers are dead or undead. Listen to me carefully Damon. I don't want you to do something brash and get us hurt or worse."

"I am listening." He sounded serious.

"That television 'virus', it is real and I don't know how affected the town is." A loud rushing of air sounded on the other end of the line as Damon had begun running to the high school. "But most of the school that had actually arrived today has been killed, or have _risen again after death._"

"So is it a real life Romero?" Damon asked, still partially serious.

"What's a Romero?" I asked back.

"Never mind…" he drawled.

"People are being bitten and getting sick, and then they die. I don't know whether you have to be… completely eaten… or just bitten, but some of these people are waking up again and they are crazy and hungry to eat people. They can live after being staked, but they can't live without an intact brain, so maybe it is a brain controlling disease or something."

"Cut to the chase Stefan. Where are you and who's with you? Does anyone need saving by me again?"

"Alaric's history room and yes, we need Jeremy to be able to get here alive with a friend."

"Jeremy has no friends besides you and everyone in that history room- oh shit! Pardon my Italian but it would seem that this is definitely 'a Romero'. It looks like most of Mystic Falls is dead or undead." An explosion sounded on the other end of the line.

"What the hell is happening?" I shouted. This made everyone in the room anxious.

"That was some guy outside the grill trying to make an alcohol bomb and failing. I can see at least fifty things here… Nearly at the school now. See you in five." He hung up.

"Damon just hung up on me, he's nearly here and he says that the chaos isn't limited to just the school in Mystic Falls. My outburst was at hearing an explosion, and that explosion was an act of someone trying to defend themselves at town square."

"What exploded?" Bonnie asked.

"Someone's flaming bottle of wine, outside the Grill." I replied darkly.

"The first thing to go in this world, the watering hole. Damon must be devastated." Alaric stated solemnly.

"What must I be devastated about?" Damon asked in a grim tone.

"The end of the Grill." I replied flatly.

"Don't be silly Stefan," He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, "I can just go get some bottles from round the back." He smirked. "Anyway. Now that I'm here, where's Jeremy, his 'friend' and the others?"

"We haven't heard from Caroline or Tyler, and Jeremy is on his way here." Elena glanced at the door before looking down at the floor.

"Well I'm going to have to clear a path then, because he can't exactly handle himself." Damon looked bored and he grumbled his words, mostly to himself. He then walked straight out of the door. A faint groaning could be heard, followed by the distinct noise of breaking glass grinding on plastic and on a hapless victim.

Moments later he walked back in with Jeremy and Jeremy's friend.

"Jer!" Elena cried, running to embrace her brother and shaking as the stress fell off of her in waves of relief.

**A/N: And so the Salvatore's are reunited and Bonnie and Elena are reunited with Jeremy. But this is only the beginning… what a clichéd term but still! Caroline, Tyler and Matt are still MIA, the police are missing along with Caroline's mum. And the school is definitely not the safest place to be.**

**So the next chapters will be the struggle to reach safety without losing anyone along the way…**

**Review and favourite!**


	5. The Bypass

**A/N: DarkAngel1864 ~ Thank you so much! You've helped me put my OOC worries at rest! 3**

**Bkaa19 ~ this chapter is all about the extremity of the situation now… I'd like to think that the walking dead characters would meet Mystic Falls' survivors, but I'm letting this play out freely rather than planning every step, so I don't know for sure.**

**With the situation rapidly deteriorating, the group within Alaric's class must either escape, or prepare to defend themselves from the growing waves of the walking dead. Meanwhile, the mass exodus of people from badly hit areas begins.**

[Alaric's POV]

I looked out of the window. It seemed that Jeremy had witnessed the worst attack and that most of the people were now fleeing from the high school. A military unit had moved in and were currently working through the hospital to clear it of the infected. They were slowly failing as their noise and movements attracted more. A police fleet had moved in and their sirens could be heard echoing against the buildings of downtown. Screeches of a sports car's tyres screamed down the highway out of town.

Gunfire, screams, terror. I closed the window and drew the blinds closed.

Elena murmured curses to her phone. We had been unable to call Caroline or Tyler after Caroline's initial attempts at calling Elena. Caroline's phone was registering as off. Tyler's couldn't be reached.

"What are we going to do? I don't think we can stay here." I let out my thoughts and queries.

"We need to think of our chances wherever we go. Staying in this room will only work so long as we are not found by too many of them." Stefan replied. For now the corridor was free of any attackers. But this school was still badly hit.

"What exactly do we call _them_, I mean, well, you know what I mean." Jeremy asked, hinting at vampires but pointing out that someone who did not know about vampires, witches or any supernatural creature.

Then Damon walked forwards and pointed at himself.

"I am a vampire Greg," before anyone could speak, although Elena was opening her mouth in shock, "We may as well be a bit honest with you kid, because everything's going wrong and we're all you've got."

"Seriously? I don't believe you man" Greg replied sceptically, fear registered in his eyes amongst his scepticism. Damon bared his teeth. "Ahh-ha-aaah! Oh my god! What the hell is wrong with you people!" Greg shrieked and fled the room.

"That was considerably easier to get rid of him than I thought." Damon chuckled.

"Smooth." Elena said, sarcasm dripping from her voice, "We might have needed him!"

"Be serious Elena. He was a stranger that was waiting to get a ride from his daddy." Bonnie gave him a withering look that looked similar to Elena's own.

"I think you were right about Greg. He wasn't strong or brave." Jeremy called from the back of the room where he looked out of a small back window. Elena scowled at him, but he wasn't looking.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Damon said smugly.

"Whatever… guys, looks like Greg made it out ok." Jeremy spoke, not looking away from the window. We moved to the window to watch Greg run across the parking lot and climb into an old, white Ssangyong Musso with caked dirt and blood across its underside and tyres. The car drove away at a surprisingly slow and civil pace.

"At that speed, he would have been an amazing runner." I remarked.

"Why has it got such weird angles to it? Makes its rear end stick out more than-" Damon paused, looking abashed. "Looks like with that speed they're going for a Sunday drive to the IHOP," he snorted, "At that speed the traffic's going to _eat_ them up!"

"What is up with you right now Damon? What did he do to make you so bitter?" Elena despaired.

"I don't like being the hero when it includes saving strangers." Damon replied bluntly, shrugging, causing Elena to let out an angered sigh. Damon rolled his eyes.

"Ok, ok! I don't think we need falling out in this situation." I stepped in before a fight could break out.

"Alaric is right." Stefan added.

"And Stefan's word is _law_." Damon said sarcastically.

"Yeah, and a herd is heading for the building!" Jeremy shouted.

"What!" Elena and Bonnie exclaimed.

"There must be 20 or more there." Bonnie whispered. Then we saw what had attracted them. 5 students, some of the catering staff and the vice principal ran out of the front doors and darted for the school bus. A chef threw a cleaver, but it missed a zombie's head and instead nicked a sliver of earlobe.

The vice principal revealed a six-shot revolver, covering the students and staff as they climbed aboard the bus. He stopped and turned to look at everyone on the bus.

"They're leaving him!" Elena shrieked. The bus began pulling away. A student opened the door and shouted, seemingly sorry and obviously distressed. The driver, another chef, was crying. Then the vice principal shouted something, held up the gun…

And he threw it to the student. As he saw that the already large crowd of undead were growing and rounding on him, he had no choice but to run inside again.

The bus drove away, but quite quickly it crashed into a small car that had been concealed by a mass of zombies. It was immobilized. And swarmed.

"Someone should go and find him. We need to help people, even if they aren't known to _all_ of us personally." I said, looking to Damon when I had referred to him. He looked impassive, but slightly annoyed. He folded his arms.

"I'll go, I'm faster than you." Stefan offered.

"Be careful." Elena spoke quietly. He nodded and smiled before running out of the door. Everyone moved to the window to watch the movements of the herd. But then some of them saw us, and as they stopped to look at us others did the same. They had all stopped moving and stared with their soulless, dead eyes. Their heads snapped to the front doors, and they began shuffling with renewed vigour to the school.

"We need to get out. Now." Jeremy said.

"Good idea…" I agreed.

"But what about Stefan?" Elena called out, "We can't just abandon him while he goes and helps someone."

"Ok. But if he takes too long then we will have to start heading out, we will leave a note. He can handle himself; we're slower and more likely to be… eaten." Bonnie stated. Elena nodded mutely and looked at the ground.

Several minutes passed.

[Elena's POV]

"I'm calling him." I announced. I dialled and rang the phone.

"*huff* Elena?" He was exhausted.

"Stefan!"

"I can't talk for long. Listen, you need to get out now. But don't go to the front doors, me and Arnold, the Vice, are trapped behind the foyer desk. They don't know we're here, but there's no way we could hold them back. There are too many. We will meet up at the town square, if we can't manage that, then later on at the boarding house. If you can't get to either, then I will wait at the boarding house for a few days."

"Dammit Stefan! Why do you have to be trapped like this!" I yelled.

"I have to go before they hear me. I will be out as fast as I can. Just get to the square! I love you Elena." He inhaled sharply and then hung up.

"Elena? What's wrong?" Alaric faltered as he saw that I was crying. He ran to and embraced me in an awkward, comforting hug.

"Stefan says we have to go. But he's hiding from them with the vice principal behind the reception, and they're all over the entrance." I sobbed.

"Then there is no time to lose. Did he propose a meeting place?" Alaric questioned, holding a brave tone whilst remaining as comforting as he could.

"There are only a few in the lot now." Jeremy called.

"He said try to get to the town square. Or go to the boarding house." I stammered.

"Damon, didn't you say the town square was in a big mess?" Alaric queried. Damon had spent the entire time trying to keep an impassive look upon his face. His arms were tightly folded and he was tensed.

"Yep. Bad idea." He confirmed tersely.

"GRRAAAHH!" a beastly noise sounded from the other side of the history door. The two lockers barricading the adjacent room were suddenly forced away as the undead occupants forced their way out after awakening.

"Ahh! Damn! Let's get out of here!" Jeremy pleaded. He got up and moved to Bonnie's side, she squeezed his hand to try and reassure him.

Alaric stepped away from me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"We have to go Elena." I nodded, not speaking for fear that I would burst into tears should I utter anything from my mouth.

Damon moved to the door and opened it. A zombie stood in his way and he instantly punched it in the stomach and pushed with full force, throwing it into the wall. We ran out into the corridor, and a locker was scattered across one side where the undead had thrown it down. Two more tutors were climbing over the other locker so we ran to the other end of the corridor. Damon kept to the front because we had no weapons.

"Wait." Jeremy called. We all froze and turned to him. "I have an idea. We should take a detour to the gym hall and borrow sports equipment to defend ourselves."

"That sounds like a good idea." Alaric remarked.

So we continued down the stairs, passing a smashed tray of food, the emptied contents of a school bag, and drops of blood leading to a boarded door.

"How is all this blood not affecting you?" I implored to Damon with a mixture of curiosity and fear; it would be bad if he did go after the blood.

"It stinks. It all smells off. It's like milk; it's nice and tasty when it's fresh and not mixed up with a lot of germs. But then fill it with germs and they turn the milk sour. This virus is turning the blood sour.

And nobody likes sour milk, or in my case, sour blood." He explained.

"Well I think I understand that." I replied. It was confusing all the same…

We turned to go through the door onto the sports field. Someone had crashed their bike next to the door; the wheel was bent out of shape. The owner, a young red-haired boy, was sprawled a few metres away, he appeared to have been attacked by the undead before dying here. In general the field was mostly empty, there were no people, living or undead and very little was damaged, although there was a conspicuous compact car that had been abandoned on the race track.

"Joyriding." Alaric commented. We looked at where he was looking to realise a large number 11 had been churned out of the race track along the 100 metre sprint. The car had been abandoned because it couldn't take the churned up earth, causing something in the front to break, catch fire and blacken the edges of the hood.

We moved to the changing rooms' entrance of the gym.

"You can either come into the _boys_' changing room, girls, or you can stand out in the cold." Damon quipped.

We came to the door and chose to wait, and Damon had to break a chain that had been bolted around the door.

"Damon!" Someone inside bellowed. He and Jeremy walked out with Matt Donovan and Tyler Lockwood.

"Someone forgot to let the dog out." Damon murmured to Tyler's back.

"I can't believe you guys are alive. What are you doing here?" Matt spluttered.

"We could say the same thing to you two. We're looking for baseball bats to fight off the dead."

"We thought that this was just a crazy happening in the gym. We're in there having a gym session when those things swarmed in and attacked the players nearest the door. We tried to fight them off but they were crazy monsters, not people! So we ran into the changing rooms, and thought that everyone else would get out other ways. But then we saw the chained up door… once we got back to the changing room door everyone was dead except for the monsters. And some crazy stuff has been going on outside…" Tyler ranted.

"We know." Jeremy deadpanned.

"You can't get to the sports store; it's on the other side of a class and some of the damn walking freaking DEAD!" Tyler continued his rant.

"At least we won't die in here." Matt breathed.

"Feel free to join us, but we have an agenda to attend to." Damon barked reluctantly.

"I'll tag along a while, but I need to get to my house." Matt announced.

"If you will be going by Caroline's house, then I'll join you, but I want to be by Care's side. It is the least I can do to return the favour after she has helped me out so much, and now I need to help her." Tyler confided.

"Then that's settled-"Damon began.

"Tyler? Would you and Caroline mind joining us at the boarding house? I would really appreciate having Caroline and you around." I asked, although perhaps not so much 'and Tyler'.

"I would have to ask Care if she wanted to first, I'm not going without her." Tyler spoke warmly, but he was adamant.

"I think we have been sitting around for long enough. It's time we left this field and found our way to Stefan meeting spot number one." Damon finished.

"What-the-hell-are-you-!" Matt yelled as someone grabbed his neck and arm, one of the undead. "YEARRGH!" He shrieked as the zombie bit into his shoulder forcefully and quickly.

"DO SOMETHING!" Bonnie screamed, Damon and Alaric were both in shock. Tyler acted, performing a football tackle with his own shoulder, colliding forcefully with the zombie's face.

"JESUS!" Matt yelled as the zombie's teeth ground to the back of his shoulder when it was forced off by Tyler. "I need a doctor!"

"We don't have a doctor, Matt! You will have to do your best to patch it up yourself; surely there are some medical supplies in the changing room area?"

"Yeah, there are." Matt spluttered. Alaric ran in and grabbed something.

"Are you gonna be ok man?" Jeremy asked.

"Yeah, thanks." He forced out. "It'll just hurt for a bit. Freakin' monster."

Alaric came back out with a bandage, "Here." He offered it to Matt. He rolled up his sleeve and roughly wrapped the bandage around the wound. The first layers of bandage quickly soaked red with blood. He stood up in stiff movements and he ground his teeth in pain. We moved on in silence, Damon caught up after having dealt with the living corpse. We made our way around to a side gate, the parking lot and crashed bus just in view. A few zombies shuffled aimlessly around it.

"With that group around the bus and probably countless more up that road- yes, as I ran past there were loads of rush hour soccer moms all over in their crashed SUVs- we will have to forget about following the bypass up to the mall and the 278." Damon suggested.

"Shall we follow the bypass south then? We can follow it to Jackson Highway and then walk that all the way to downtown." Alaric put out.

"Why are we going to the square?" Tyler questioned.

"We're meeting Stefan there." I stated.

"Oh, right." He replied.

Once away from the vicinity of the school it seemed that the emptier stretch of Bypass Road was unaffected by the attacks. There was a parked car with its door open and engine running, but it was only a small pickup which wouldn't be good for keeping more than three of us safe.

But then, to our astonishment, a police siren sounded, hailing us. A lone cruiser stopped beside us on the road.

"Are you all ok?" The driver asked, he didn't look confident himself.

"Yes sir. We are following the Bypass to the highway before walking into town; we're meeting a friend there." Alaric told him

"Ya- you do know about what's going down in these here parts, right?" He stammered.

"Yes, we are well aware of the rising of the dead," Alaric stressed, "We just came from the school. We're meeting our friend there after he said he'd meet us. We got cut off by a horde a little while back. What are you doing out here?"

The officer looked down at the ground, and his face paled; "I am the sole survivor of the mall 'riot'." He emphasized with his fingers forming quote marks. "I barely made it out alive after the shopping crowd was attacked by a bus crashing, it was full of the things and they just went for the shoppers. Me and my unit were heading back from a similar incident at a service station on the freeway. When we saw how many there were we set up explosives in the most infested parts, where there were no people. Just before we could detonate the bomb they broke through the sawhorses and… _devoured_the people we had rescued and my team."

He looked at us with haunted eyes and uttered darkly, "You chose very well to travel this way."

"I am terribly sorry to hear that, sir. Do you have any weapons left or defences to share?" Alaric pleaded.

"I have no guns and no melees. All I can offer is that some of you take a ride to where you need to go in my car, which is my only defence. There won't be room for you all. I am sorry."

"We could fit in everyone if some people sat on top of others… but I'm guessing Matt and Tyler will want to have no one sat on them. Err, Bonnie…" Jeremy began but his sentence drifted off at beginning to suggest that Bonnie sat on him. She raised her eyebrows.

"Always the gentleman…" She smiled. "Yes, I guess I will have to sit on you." She blushed.

"I'll give up my seat for someone." Alaric offered.

"As much as I wouldn't mind, I can't have you sharing a seat with me. So I'll stay out here with Alaric. We'll figure something out." Damon smirked.

"No, Damon, Alaric, one of you should have my seat." I insisted.

"Don't be silly Elena. We will walk, we're big tough guys." Damon waggled his eyebrows and punched Alaric playfully on the arm.

"I'm really sorry that I don't have a bigger car, but at least some of you should come with me, I cannot drive on by without helping. You saw the pickup back there, right? I know! It is looting, but I don't know if rules like them apply in zombie apocalypse. So before the walkers can get to us, I will drive you to town." He put on a brave face.

We climbed into the cruiser. Me, Jer and Bonnie waved, the cop saluted. As we drove away I saw Damon say deliberately loudly to Alaric;

"You expect me to give you a piggyback like sparkle boy?" Damon folded his arms and Alaric shrugged, looking confused.

Eventually they disappeared from view and the outskirts of Mystic Falls began to appear. The cop hailed his radio.

"This is Officer T. Williamson. Escorting 5 civilians to Mystic Falls' downtown, over." He broadcasted. He then got a look of surprise on his face when he got a direct reply.

"Officer Williamson. There has been a government announcement. You are to report to your station as soon as possible for the rural evacuation to city centres for the protection of all. You will be required to patrol and protect the government safe zone that will be announced as soon as possible. Over."

"Well I am taking civilians to Mystic Falls downtown first. Over." He replied huffily.

"Disregard that Williamson. You will take the civilians to the station to begin the evac' to refugee centres. Over."

"Officer?" Elena asked, "We really need to get to the square."

"I know!" He then spoke into the radio, "They have to meet up with friends and family. I am disregarding your request. Over!"

"IT WAS AN ORDER! OVER!" the receiver yelled.

Officer Williamson paused.

"I'm ignoring your order, repeat, ignoring your order. Over and out." He switched the radio to a music station.

"-folks. And now we bring you Johnny Cash, with The Man Comes Around." A Texas accent hollered, then playing the dark country tune.

"Ha. They played this at the start of a horror movie." Jeremy muttered.

_And I heard as it were the noise of thunder__  
><em>_One of the four beasts saying come and see and I saw__  
><em>_And behold a white horse_

We passed a row of bungalows, two were boarded up. One using police barricades and wood. The other using wood and vehicles. The third house had almost completely collapsed after having the wooden frame burnt down in an unchecked fire. Fortunately the houses were far apart and the air was still. The fourth house appeared to have been hastily abandoned, and random songs were playing out of a huge sound system. Then a gunshot sounded. Someone had shot the stereo and it fell silent. A minivan rolled around the corner, packed full of bags and a family. A sedan with more relatives followed closely behind, an alloy buckled and rolled away as the sedan tried to cope with the sharp cornering.

People charged across the street, few heading in the direction of town. One carried an automatic rifle. He was shooting at the undead that followed the fleeing citizens. After passing a group of zombies, avoiding them so that they didn't damage the car, the street fell devoid of movement. A big rig had stopped and had been abandoned after crashing through a crude barricade made up of the contents of a mini-mart. However, the truck had cleared a pathway for our car.

"Crap!" Officer Williamson cursed. We came to a police cordon. The entire cluster of riot vans and cruisers had been deserted; two young teen boys and a little girl were helping themselves to the discarded riot gear.

"It looks like we will not be able to get to the town this way, so we have two choices. You either walk the short distance left to get to the town square, or you follow me and we navigate the long highway that is full of traffic and accidents." The teens saw us in our cruiser and looked set to scarper.

"Forget it kid." Williamson shouted, "take what you need but save some for us!" They slowly and nervously took some shields, handguns, armour and ran.

"If only it weren't for the parked cars, the exploded m'c'Donalds," he said, popping the 'c', "and this block! Because now we can't get onto the Jackson road.

"What about that suburb a little way back?" Matt offered.

"Cul-De-Sac." Williamson deadpanned. "So. Are you following me back up to the freeway? Or would you rather walk and get there faster?"

**A/N: thanks for reading my 5****th**** chapter! The closer they get to town now, the more dangerous life may get. As some of you may know, Covington in Georgia is where the town square of Mystic Falls is set. So I used the roads named "Bypass Road" and "Jackson Highway" to get them to the town square. That way I can base the streets on something more realistic than my imagination.**

**Review and favourite!**


	6. Highway

**A/N: DarkAngel1864 ~ Enjoy the chapter! I hope this is worth the wait!**

**Enjoy chapter 6!**

[Elena's POV]

"So. Are you following me back up to the freeway? Or would you rather walk and get there faster?" Officer Williamson asked.

"I'm going to go wherever you go Elena." Bonnie enunciated.

"And you know that I will go with you both." Jeremy said to us.

"Mr Williamson. I need to go with you to the hospital; it's just off the freeway. I don't want to hold anyone back by walking and trying to cope with my injury."

"Very well." Williamson murmured.

Tyler agreed with Jer and Bonnie, "I'm going to stay with you. Keep you safe."

"You guys gonna be ok?" Williamson demanded with worry and concern in his voice.

"Thank you so much for helping us, I believe we will." I smiled.

"Ok then. Maybe we'll see each other alive and well again. Good bye and God bless you." Williamson passed onto us. We all said our goodbyes and gave our thanks. We wished him and Matt luck too. But we knew what had happened at the hospital and so did they, we could see it in their eyes, reflecting the fear in our own. With Matt sat in the back seat they drove slowly away. Once out of sight we heard the car pick up speed quickly.

My phone vibrated.

A text from Damon:

"Wheres U? At downtown."

I replied with "Bypass – r36 junction. U & Ric ok?"

"Just peachy. Xx" Damon replied

"Damon…" I replied, now afraid that one of them was hurt.

"We're ok." He assured.

"Gd. Keep out of trouble. X" I sent.

"No promises." Damon finished.

I told the rest of us four about Damon and Alaric's update. "Damon just texted me, they're at downtown, they are safe."

"Then let's go to them. No mention of Stefan?" Tyler asked. I inhaled sharply.

"No." I mumbled. Tyler looked down, he was sorry for bringing it up that Stefan was still in danger. We carefully navigated the abandoned cars. Once we were out onto the highway we saw why the roads were so abandoned; a long nose cab had overturned after trying to avoid a car crash involving a bus piling into two cars, one of which had presumably lost control with an infected person at the wheel. The gap left between the bus pile up and the truck cab was only big enough for people to get through, any car would at the very least have bad side impacts.

Even so as we passed through the cars, one car, a tiny Toyota IQ, had only just got through before all four of its tyres brought it to a halt, they had been torn up by twisted metal and glass. The only sound was an ominous wind that had picked up; it seemed to carry deep moaning and groaning noises on it.

"How did everything become still so quickly?" Tyler whispered.

"Eyyyyeurgh…" Tyler's words had awoken one of the dead that had died having been trapped in the compact car. She began clawing at the windows.

"She must be too weak to break out." Jeremy stammered. "C'mon we need to get away." Bonnie tightened her grip on his hand and he looked at her grimly, but managed a small smile.

"Y'all best stop before you get yoursel's in a big pickle!" A southern redneck made himself visible, walking out of a gas station, he was moving between abandoned cars on the forecourt. He had a biker's jacket on, and his brown hair was cut into a crude mullet. A mother and child opened the doors of their suburban.

"Oh my lord we thought you were one of them."

"What happened here ma'am?" Tyler called.

"It was terrible. As a community, I attended a meeting with the community council members, so as a group we set off, we had a crazy plan to go find a campsite or something… a lot of people had a reasonable idea that this was going to be massive," she waved her arms around to indicate the scene around her, "then that red car under the bus lost control, I think poor Frank was becoming one of them… he crashed into Julian and that was them stuck on this road. Most of these cars here came along at the same time as the police, they stopped at the station to get supplies that still existed in a shop, and the police department were battling off a _huge_ horde, they had come from some suburbs up the bypass, but they panicked and fled. The horde was diverted to the McDonalds and this station, so we hid. The bus came by in the midst of the disaster. I… I don't know where everyone went except that they were all attacked." She let out everything she knew of this place.

"You were smart in stayin' in your car. I came in through the back when I saw this place goin' to hell. Most of those dead people went to the town, but you watch yoursel's… some of them're lurkin'…"

"Where are you going?" The little boy asked. He couldn't be older than 7.

"We are going to find our friends in town." Bonnie stated, smiling politely. A cracking of glass sounded as the zombie behind us began to break the windshield.

"Time we was headin' out!" The redneck hollered. He went inside and grabbed his supplies and came out carrying fuel and food. "Be seein' you! Or not! I'm off outta state!" He yelled, running to a grimy, rusted pickup that was parked around the back of the service station.

"Please let us go with you. We'll never make it on our own." The mother begged, clinging to her son.

"Look, we'll take you with us, but it will cause tension with other members of our group." I warned. Damon would not like having strangers in our group. And it would be hard for Damon and Stefan to have to conceal that they were vampires.

"We- I… I understand." She nodded anxiously, looking around for any potential danger.

We walked down the highway. The trees clambering to either side gradually gave way to houses. A similar layout to my street, far apart and of an old, wooden design, mainly 1800's. As we walked the sound of a car alarm became audible. Then the bay window of one house smashed, three zombies fell out. The mother screamed and that caused her son to scream. Bonnie's scream caught in her throat, instead letting out a low moan. She grabbed hold of Jeremy.

"Run!" Tyler bellowed. We all ran as fast as we could, further and further into town we went, the more chaos there was. Houses were broken, on fire, full of activity as the dead tried to get in and the living had to choose between fight and flight. A removal van flipped and totalled as it made a sharp turn to avoid hitting another car reversing out of a drive. The flipped van grinded its nose to the pavestone before coming to a complete stop part of the way into a bungalow's dining room.

Behind us a police van's sirens were wailing, silencing abruptly to make an announcement:

"Proceed to Mystic Falls Square immediately in order to be rescued. You have 16 minutes before the gates are closed." It would repeat this as it drove quickly down the highway.

"Hopefully Stefan is there!" I called. As we moved briskly down the sidewalk I checked my phone for messages. No signal. "There's no signal!" I shrieked.

"There's nothing we can do about it now! We haven't got long to get to the square!" Jeremy called to me from the front of the group. We ran past a mini-mart which was being raided by looters and the dead. The staff either joined the dead or fled. The second shop was an electricals store, all the televisions a reflection of the crisis we stood in. Subtitles and news tickers flashed with various updates ranging from evacuations to riots to warfare of the living and the dead to the worst of all…

The disease was officially international, save for some remote island nations.

We came up to an intersection, two ambulances were hampering traffic. Many vehicles were avoiding going the way we had come from, some people headed to the "safe zone" but others drove off to the exits.

"We should get off the highway and take some side streets." Jeremy suggested. Bonnie and Tyler nodded in agreement.

"But there are too many turns we have to take! It would take too long!" I replied anxiously.

"There are hiding places for those things!" The woman called.

"She's right! Might not be great timing, but what's your name?" Tyler shouted.

"Lorraine! And they're coming out of that church!" Her voice raised several octaves when she saw the masses heaving through the cracked wooden doors. Another two, undead paramedics, fell out of an ambulance. Others stirred in the houses and advanced on us.

"They're surrounding!" Bonnie warned. I ran ahead, moving down the highway, everyone chose to follow me. A bus approached from one of the exit roads, filled to capacity with passengers, but then it stopped and everyone ran out of the doors, leaving three undead to attack the weaker, slower people. There was no chance of saving them; we had no choice to run past.

I cried out, a town car narrowly missed me as the driver battled with an undead passenger as the other passenger's life ebbed away in the adjacent seat.

"This is messed up so fast." Tyler fumed.

"Radio said we're worst hit!" Lorraine blurted out.

"Watch out for those- oh! People!" Jeremy began, before realising that the first escapee, a woman similar to Lorraine's age was yelling to someone.

"You get your ass outta there now woman!" She raged. Another slightly younger woman came out carrying a cat.

"I'm not leaving Binco!" She wailed. She narrowly missed being devoured by several of the dead. Suddenly an upper level of the apartments block exploded, raining rubble and various kitchen items over the street.

Gunfire from several handguns and rifles sounded just ahead. A State Guard ammo truck had stopped and blocked off the road, the soldiers stood on the sidewalks to either side firing at point blank zombies.

"You people!" We turned to look at the young woman carrying Binco the cat, "I know a shortcut to town square! Follow me!"

We followed her as she turned left on the intersection. The narrow road was full of cars that had stopped at the lights, and all the vehicles were surrounded by dozens of the undead. "Through here!" She darted around to the side of an overhang; the entire road overhang side facing the road had been blocked with boxes and dumpsters. I fell behind, stunned by the amount of them on the road.

"C'mon sis!" Jeremy roared. I snapped out of my shock and followed down the narrow overhang. The doors of the old office burst open and a huge, muscular giant of a zombie burst out, a rope tourniquet wrapped around a mauled arm. I was knocked down by the door. I screamed.

A butterfly knife sliced through one eye, all but the tips of the two handles remaining exposed. The force of the throw whiplashed the monster's head back and he gurgled and foamed red, frothy blood at the mouth. My mouth gawped open and I turned my head to look at a young woman with flowing dark blond hair, flecked with crimson blood. A look of pure rage filled her eyes as she took in her accurate kill.

"Ah shit, god damn you, die. Aggrh, DIE already!" She kicked it several times. She turned and smirked.

"You have a good day now." She retrieved the knife, wiping it on the corpse's lesser stained part of his shirt and creatively flipping the knife closed. She saluted me and turned to leave, stopping instantly as Jeremy and Tyler had ran back to help me.

"Whoa." Jeremy saw the young woman holding a knife, myself on the floor gaping at her and the corpse.

"Care to join us? Looks like we could do with your help." Tyler offered, taking in the giant of a dead zombie.

"Thanks but no thanks." She smirked again. "I have other people to keep safe." She announced. Then she introduced herself, saluting to the three of us, "Nicole Elizabeth." She sprinted away.

"What happened?" Tyler asked, perplexed.

"She just saved my life." I mumbled, still staring at the spot where she stood. I slowly climbed up.

"No time 'Lena! They're leaving us behind!" We ran down the alleyway. Nicole Elizabeth had been by here, by the looks of the face down corpses with severe knife trauma to the head.

Bonnie waited at an open fire exit, "Through here!" She waved us in, we were in a storage room filled with empty cardboard boxes and then passing through a door to the bare cashier desk of an empty shop. Someone else had passed through here before, leaving the front door open with a broken lock.

We emerged with the town hall in plain view.

"Stop right there! Police!" An officer shouted, standing at a roadblock that sealed us and the left road from the town square.

"We're all ok! No bites!" I replied.

"Approach slowly to the block, you're safe enough! We have you covered should any attackers appear!" He instructed, inclining his head from behind his revolver. The town square was a hive of activity. It seemed that there must be around 100 police with 14 cruisers and 4 police vans. The town square and town hall were sealed off by roadblocks and a lot of survivors, looking to be a thousand citizens.

Then my heart stopped. My breath caught and faltered.

Stefan. He was alive.

When he knew I could see him, he smiled and opened his arms, welcoming me to him; a single tear fell from his eye.

**A/N: Short chapter! But I'll make up for it next chapter by making a very long chapter! I hope you enjoyed the little beginning of reunion at the end of this chapter!**

**Haha, who'd have thought, 1143 of Monticello street southwest, the empty lot, actually is an empty lot that has nothing but empty cardboard boxes in it! I searched out of interest after looking up the road layout of Covington/Mystic Falls Town Square.**

**Review and favourite!**


	7. Reunion, Ruination

**A/N: I'm so sorry for not updating in a while! I've had quite a bit of writer's block lately!**

**DarkAngel1864 ~ I'm glad you love zombie slaying and you like Stefan! They'll both stick around at least for a long time!**

**MidnightMoon101 ~ Thanks for reviewing! All I can say now is that they've been to Georgia before, and its close… maybe they'll go again! Or maybe The Atlanta survivor's camp will pass close by!**

[Stefan's POV]

Oh how I cried to see Elena's face again! I opened my arms wide as she ran to me. I took her into my arms and crashed my lips down on her's in relief, in love, in passion. She returned with an equally passionate kiss. After some time our lips moved slowly apart, I held her face in my hand, drinking in her features.

"That was a surprise." Elena breathed, beaming with joy and relief, "PDA is unlike you!" she teased, squeezing me briefly in a hug.

"This is unlike Mystic Falls. I have missed you my love. I am sorry to have given you such a scare. I promise to remain with you now, I'll be more careful." I spoke softly and low so that only she could hear.

"You saved someone Stefan. You couldn't have known what would happen." Elena sympathised. "How is the vice principal?" She asked.

"He saw someone in the crowd, gave his thanks and walked away. I think he will be just fine now." The Vice Principal had run to that person with a similar smile to mine.

"That's good news," Elena smiled, she was about to ask another question, "Where's Damon and Ric?"

He raised his eyebrows in confusion. "That's odd. I don't know any more. He was here, just now, with Alaric. Hmm. They have run off."

[Damon's POV]

"Of all the people you could call… what made you choose _me_?" I teased, making the 'me' sound suggesting.

"Damon, I called you by accident. My mobile was broken and your name is too close to Elena's." She replied sternly.

"Now that you've called me, what is it you wanted?" I asked, amused. She sighed.

"I guess you can be helpful if you want to be. Listen. I am driving my mom's car-" She began

"Where's your mom?" I asked.

"If you'll let me finish, I'm a little strained here. My mom is in the back seat; she got attacked and knocked out by those flesh freaks. I don't know what happened; she came in with a wound to her side, it- it looks like a bite Damon…" She inhaled deeply, trying to keep herself composed, "I don't know how long she has left. But I'm going to the town square, can you get there?"

"I already am princess."

"I'm nearly there, mom fell unconscious once she got inside the house. I've got to hang up now, the streets are dangerous. Bye Damon."

"Watch for traffic Barbie." I hung up.

"Who was that, Damon?" Ric asked, perplexed written across his face in bold.

"Caroline and we need to go to the gate to meet her."

[Elena's POV]

Stefan pulled away, his expression foreboding.

"Trouble Elena." He warned.

"How do you know? What's happening?" I asked, fearful of what he knew.

"An officer just threatened someone trying to get into the square." He pointed to the far side of the area. "I think Damon and Alaric are involved."

"We need to go over there to see what's happening." I decided.

"And we will go with you Elena." Bonnie added.

[Jeremy's POV]

"And we will go with you Elena." Bonnie added. I moved to follow them. We paced across the crowded park in the centre.

"Jeremy! I need you!" Someone called. What? Who could be calling on me? I turned to see Vicki sat on a bench beside a sleeping man. "I don't have long of course, and neither do you around here, you need to get to that roadblock, it's safer there." Vicki looked sad to be leaving so shortly, and she looked at the sleeping man with concern.

"How is it safer than here?" I demanded.

"I am not allowed to say. I've given away too much already. I can't let you die on me Jeremy. So I'll tell you this: Watch the boat. When it sails, make sure you are on board, make sure you follow." She spoke a cryptic riddle.

"What are you telling me? There are no boats in Mystic Falls." I replied, all she could do was shrug. She blew me a kiss as she faded from view. Bonnie turned to me with a look of understanding. "Did you feel her presence Bon?"

"I did Jer. Was it Vicki and Anna again?" I nodded.

"It was just Vicki. She came with a warning. She says it's safer to be near the exit. And… she told me a riddle. 'Watch the boat. When it sails, make sure you are on board, make sure you follow.' Do you have any idea what that means?"

"I don't know… I'm sorry Jer. I'm a witch not a psychic." She mock-groaned, smiling at me.

A police siren sounded once. It came from the other side of the blockade. Me and Bonnie gave each other a brief look, and then we ran as fast as we could to there.

"It might be Matt!" I called to Bonnie.

"I know! Come on!" She replied anxiously. We arrived to the negotiations of the police and… Caroline. Damon stood with his arms folded smugly. "What's got into you now?" Bonnie shot maliciously at Damon.

"Ouch judgey!" Damon gasped and shook his hand as though he'd been bitten by a snake. This got an eye rolling.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE CAN'T COME IN! SHE'S MY MOM!" Caroline screeched, she turned, looking as though she was with head in hands, but from this angle I saw she was covering her enraged, vampire eyes.

"She called me." Damon stated nonchalantly.

"Why did she call you and not me or Elena?" Bonnie narrowed her eyes suspiciously, impervious to her friend's pleas to rescue her mom.

"Ma'am! We cannot allow a bitten person to pass through the fence! She will spread the infection into the crowd!" The police appealed to Caroline

"Oh simply because she adores me for who I am, the charismatic, sexy gentleman." He smirked and had an amused tone. Bonnie however looked livid.

"MOM!" Caroline screamed, as she saw her mom waking up from supposedly being unconscious. Caroline and Liz had a worried conversation and it seemed Caroline was updating Liz on what she had missed. Liz then looked confused, and she shook her head, distinctly saying "no". She slowly left the car with Caroline.

"Sheriff! We can't let you in, you are bitten." The officer looked down, abashed.

"I'm not bitten! I cut myself on a car part! There is car debris all over town!" She then pulled up her uniform shirt to reveal the wound. "_Not_ a bite." She stated sternly. And then began striding to the blockade. The police shouted something incoherent to Liz, and opened fire… Liz dived to the ground, Caroline wailed, but then realised the target. The dead had followed Caroline and the cruiser she was driving.

"What the fuu-ungh!" A large man in a chequered hunting jacket cursed, but stopped abruptly as he piled into Bonnie. "Oh damn. I'm so sorry." He faltered and fumbled trying to help up Bonnie, who, though dazed, was none the worse for wear.

"Be careful you dick!" I yelled, he raised his hands in a submissive gesture before fleeing.

People began hearing the gunfire and seeing the zombies, and then the panic started. People began shooting wildly, screaming, jostling the crowd. People panicked even more once they realised that the square had been surrounded all around by the undead. The survivors flooded the exits, the zombies flooded the entrances. The police department tried to hold back both parties… but to no avail. Some cops began shooting blindly, even taking out more civilians than zombies.

"Jeremy! Where do we go! Caroline barely made it across!" Bonnie exclaimed. Caroline supported Liz as they vaulted over the line of defence. The police recommenced shooting at the dozens of undead.

"All units! Prepare to fall back! We will deploy explosive charges to fend off these crazies! Over!" The officer in charge commanded into his radio.

"Received sir. Over" A reply came through.

"It's going to be tough! We're nearly overrun!" A second reply with the sounds of struggle also arrived.

"…" The fourth gate had no police. It had been overrun.

Acting on the fallen unit, the commanding officer gave a new command. "Disregard that! We will defend the town hall! Get the survivors inside and we will deploy explosives in as wide an arc as possible! Over!"

The police began moving away from the barricades and trying to gather as many people into the town hall as possible.

"Jeremy! Bonnie! Let's keep together guys!" Alaric called, Caroline, Tyler, Elena, Liz and the Salvatore's were all together, and they were at the centre of the town square now.

"Damn! Bonnie! It's the boat!" I shouted, pointing to a large FBI GMC Suburban, it appeared that the large family group driving it had not only probably stolen the car, but they had attached a boat trailer to the back. They were about to leave.

[Caroline's POV]

Me and Tyler had no moment to share joy and relief at being reunited, as soon as me and mom got through the fence the flesh eating monsters chased us in, and they were all around. Alaric, Stefan, Damon and Elena waved us over and Tyler was already at the fence to greet me

"Let's get somewhere safe Care!" was all he said, it was all that could be said. All the townspeople began running for the exits until they saw them all blocked. People then went everywhere, some being fanned into the hall by the last of the cops.

Alaric hollered to Jer and Bon, but Jeremy was interested in a car behind us.

"So what! It's big and has a boat! It's not going to save us Jeremy!" Elena stressed at her brother. The police gave us despairing looks at our choice to not go inside the short term safety of town hall. But Jeremy continued.

"Vicki told me to follow the boat." He stated, not losing sight of the suburban and its trailer.

"I'm going with Jeremy. I'm not a psychic, and not a professional medium, but Vicki carried a lot of power when she told him. I could feel it in the air, like an intense crackling of lightning. But warm and somehow… it feels good." She tried to explain, it stirred thought in everyone, and it almost made sense to me, almost. Jeremy nodded in agreement.

"You don't have to follow us, but either way, meet you at the boarding house." He and Bonnie ran after the suburban.

"Should we follow them?" I asked, it seemed that everyone else were unsure of following or not, except for Elena.

"Of course we should! He's my brother, Stefan! We need to go after him!" Elena burst. I followed as Stefan and Elena ran to follow Jeremy and Bonnie, with Damon and Ric close behind and Tyler at my side. Gunfire sounded on the Town Hall steps, the police had attracted more of the undead flesh-eaters.

"Hurry up! We haven't got all day!" One of the cops firing was shouting at another who was crouched and setting up the detonator, I could see 4 explosives, placed haphazardly, but at the least they close enough that they would take down the flesh-eaters.

"I'm trying! I'm under pressure!" He replied, his voice was a little high-pitched with fear.

"Wuh- ahhh! They're getting closer!" An intensely shaky cop was shooting madly at the attackers. "They're getting in! Hurry! Hurry! This way!" A clattering sounded as the metal rail guards were pushed over.

"We need to go!" The GMC driver called to his family…

"And we need to follow the boat!" Jeremy announced to us.

"DONE!" The high pitched cop almost screamed.

"LOOK OUT CARL!" The first cop cried out. He pointed his gun at the zombie jumping onto Carl with the detonator. Two more attacked him, Carl and the first cop were doomed.

"What should I do!" Shaky called, but to no reply. But then the detonator was thrown out of the writhing mass of the undead. He nearly dropped it. He twisted the detonator switch to detonate the bomb. Four loud explosions sounded and flashed in bright orange flames, scattering debris and bodies. One of the roadblocks was caught by the flames… it happened to unfortunately be the roadblock that had the bomb squad van. An almighty fireball engulfed the cars and the adjacent buildings, including the town hall. First the wall facing the explosion crumbled and toppled, and then the roof caved in, causing the clock tower to crack and fall. Only the central and far wings were spared, but it was impossible to tell whether the municipal's innards made it through the destruction.

"Oh… shit!" Tyler cussed. Everyone had stopped to stare in horror at the end of an age-old emblem of Mystic Falls. The flames and collapsing timbers were the only sounds in the square. But then muffled cries for help sounded inside the rubble and smoke. Figures appeared at doorways and windows.

But we had no more time. The suburban pulled away.

"Follow that boat!" Jeremy yelled. Only the vampires like me would be able to track the car and its load, 2 blocks I bet and the humans and werewolf won't be able to tell where the sound is coming from. A helicopter flew overhead, for the news by the faint but insistent chattering.

[Elena's POV]

After we had ran for 3 blocks the last of the humans, myself and Jeremy not included, were too tired to continue running. Damon and Stefan could still hear the car, and it seemed that what Vicki had told Jeremy was invaluable. We had not found any more of the dead. We were not spared the worst of the situation however. Stores broken into and looted dry, homes desecrated by direct attacks, car accidents, fire.

"We're on our own now. I lost the car." Damon said.

"It's not too long to the boarding house. We should be fine so long as we are careful." Stefan added.

"Is that your plan? We all go to the boarding house? What then?" I interrogated.

"We plan ahead to get through this." Stefan replied confidently. The answer would have to do for now.

We approached the quiet country road into the old wood. A backpacker lay at the side of the road, having collapsed with exhaustion before he passed away. His blood seeped from his thick coat and slicked across the smooth tarmac. A rabbit's paw prints began on one side of the blood and carried across the road into the woods on the other side.

"We're being followed by them." Damon warned.

"What?" Stefan hissed.

"Better hearing little brother." He tapped his ears knowingly, "Yes, they followed us out of town, but they're becoming lost in the woods. _Stupid_ things," He spat, "ruining countless _hearty_ meals." He waggled his eyebrows knowingly.

"Damon, shut up." Stefan murmured.

We arrived at the boarding house. It seemed that none of the zombies and the conflict with them had arrived here. The only things on the drive were Stefan's vintage red Porsche.

And a black Aston Martin.

**A/N: Mystery car time! Brownie points go to those who can guess the owner, and it can be an educated guess, as I've put research into cars and their owners!**

**Review and favourite!**


	8. Uninvited

**A/N: MidnightMoon101 ~ all will be revealed soon!**

**Nikki ~ although Layla in your fanfic drives an Aston… it's not Layla (sadly)! Good luck on getting it right though I'm sure you have!**

**Again another quick and fairly obvious clue for many of you in the title! Looking forward to introducing a new character here! As well as that, I might begin to settle the group into more of a steadier rhythm rather than the craze and confusion of so far.**

[Damon's POV]

A black Aston Martin. Now, who would drive that up to the boarding house? All was silent. It was unlikely to be the hillbilly wandering up from town, so it must be;

"Katherine." I groaned, frowning.

"And here I am the welcoming party." She drawled, stood behind us. We whirled around.

"Why are you here Katherine? Why now?" Stefan questioned suspiciously.

"Because I'm pissed at so many meals going to waste. And there's no company left in the world. As much as I am only your discarded _true love_, Stefan, I could do with the protection and the help that you will offer to me." She declared.

"What makes you so confident that _any_ of us will offer you protection and help?" Stefan fumed, frowning angrily.

"Does being a vampire make you forgetful Stefan? Don't you remember who it was that brought the cure to a werewolf bite to Damon's almost-deathbed?" Katherine cut back, silencing Stefan.

"An eye for an eye. Or rather favour for a favour," I groaned, "it looks like we're stuck with you then."

"I'm sorry Damon, I forget how much you enjoyed the chase." She winked.

"Let's get inside the warm boarding house before Katherine notices my cold shoulder." I muttered to Stefan.

"I heard that." She called grumpily.

"Sounds a good plan Damon." Stefan whispered back, but in a stage whisper so that Katherine heard. She sighed in exasperation. Elena chuckled quietly.

"Who is that woman that looks like Elena?" Liz hissed. Caroline began;

"She is Katherine, just like Elena because Elena is the dopp-"

"Long story Sheriff. Let's save it for later." I finished, smiling. Liz opened her mouth to object, but closed it again slowly.

We all went to the parlour room, everyone sat down beside me, Katherine and Elena. Stefan gestured for Elena to sit.

"No, I'd rather stand." She declined, eyeing Katherine with suspicion. Katherine smiled at her menacingly.

"Tell us everything you know Katherine." I said, concentrating more on pouring bourbon.

"This is how I started. I wake up, stalk a meal, only to realise it smelt _terrible_, nothing good in its smell. Annoyed I go to kill the stinker, to have him turn to bite me! Eventually I work out how to kill him. I go for a drive to find that the world is dying on me. So I came here for answers." She imparted confidently.

"Why do I not believe that is everything you know?" Stefan interjected.

"Because you're an untrusting bastard." Katherine spat, slumping down on an empty couch and scowling. Stefan looked hurt at her comment.

"Don't keep poking at the wild animals Stefan, they could _bite_." I warned mockingly, amused at her typical childishness. "Milady, don't you know that is improper behaviour of a lady? Wait…"

"Bite me." She growled, not looking at anyone.

"I am getting hungry." I replied, pretending to consider taking her up on her offer.

"We need to plan ahead. This may be over in a day, a week. But it could go on for months." Elena announced.

"Hmm… that reminds me, why are you here, _sheriff_?" I accused.

"What's that supposed to mean!" Caroline defended.

"No. He's right. I should be out on the force protecting this town. I, I panicked." Liz looked away, ashamed of her cowardice.

"But you came back for me mom…" Caroline comforted, moving closer to Liz and holding her hand.

"In the end that became my alibi…" She confessed. Caroline looked away, tears coming to surface, blurring the green of her widened eyes. "I need to go to the police department right now. Even if part of it is smoking rubble now." Liz said determinedly.

"It is getting dark, Elizabeth. You will have to stay here until sunrise. We will not let you leave when it is dark and even more dangerous." Stefan cautioned. Liz sighed very deeply.

"Fine. But as soon as the sun comes up I will be back into the town. It is my duty to do so and shameful to do any less." She confirmed her choice. Caroline covered her expression with a brave and impassive face. But then she wavered.

"Why mom? Why can't you just stay here with us? There's nothing left of the town, nearly everyone died in that burning building." Her voice was taut, and on the edge of breaking into sobs.

The burning building supposedly killing them all. Their tomb. It sounded quite familiar.

"Don't you say that Caroline. There will always be survivors, and trained professionals like my police-" She began angrily

"Probably ran away too." I added in, causing everyone to glare at me, if their eyes were stakes then I would be deader than the dead. Ha ha.

"Shut up Damon!" Liz hissed, "-trained professionals like my police will be better equipped with the know-how to survive the building's collapse." She finished, in a more terse voice. "That's my plan. I want to hear yours."

"That is only your plan for tomorrow. What we meant was to plan for the future. Firstly, we need to see the television for an update." Stefan said. He moved to the little, old parlour room TV. At first there was no signal, whether this was technical problems or just the old Panasonic was anyone's guess.

Finally an image of a slightly dishevelled reporter appeared, she was stood in her matching pink skirt suit.

"Can you see the area behind me with the red tinted sky? That is what is left of the Palambama District after the military ordered an air strike on the area!" but then the signal failed. An image of technical difficulties appeared. Stefan scanned for another channel.

"News just in: we are receiving unconfirmed reports of random acts of violence and murder all over the city, details are a bit sketchy right now as the military presence and police department refuse to give an official statement. They are currently allowing no people in or out of the entire city.

We will continue to bring you late breaking coverage as it is received by the station."

"It looks like that second channel is slow at catching on, pick another one Stefan." Alaric suggested. He flicked to the third channel.

"The government have urged that all citizens remain in their homes. Block all means of access including windows. Attackers are violent, psychotic and have a complete disregard for their safety. They will attempt to kill any people who are in a normal state of mind." He then puts his finger to his earpiece, frowns… and wipes sweat from his brow. "I have just been informed that the emergency broadcast system will be cancelling this TV station shortly. For further updates from the news station head to our website at www-dot-" Then he was cut off and replaced with the emergency broadcast system.

It announced everything that would be expected; stay indoors; avoid the undead; keep phone lines open…

The station then came back: "News just in, the CDC and government have issued a warning to avoid the recently deceased as they _will_ return to life through the reanimation of their brain. Evacuation centres are being listed below, you must proceed to whichever one possible as soon as possible for evacuation. Areas across the country are lacking in resources, food, water, electricity… we are being warned that you and/or our station could lose power at any given time. I will repeat, make your way to the evacuation centres as soon as possible for evacuation from this biological incident." He pauses, runs his hand through his hair, "We- we're talking _zombies_ here. _Zombies._ People get bitten, fall ill, die and then wake up as flesh eating monsters. Avoid these people at all costs and report them to the National Guard for immediate disposal." The producer becomes audible;

"Dammit Jeff! That was inappropriate! The feds are gonna cut the cable!"

"The hell? What the fuck is wrong with-" The emergency broadcast system returned; now announcing evacuation centres. I switched off the TV.

"They aren't telling us anything about our area." I explained bluntly.

"We need to take a step back and think this through, carefully." Alaric suggested.

"That's the best thing to do right now." Stefan agreed.

"Where do we start?" Elena asked.

"Here." I said. Naturally, they chose to ignore me.

"How much food do we have?" Stefan demanded.

"For all these people, I'd say we could have hearty meals of brekkie, lunch and dinner for…" I pretended to count many days with my fingers, "A day or two. If we're lucky. And by lucky everyone except Elena dies. As for blood, don't you worry I will be fine for a good strong week. What?" I exclaimed at their stunned silence. "We've still got cap'n' crunch…"

"Tomorrow me and Damon will go and get food and supplies from town." Stefan deadpanned before I could add anything.

"What makes you so sure I will help little brother?" I glowered at his decision on what I would do.

"Because you _care_ Damon." Elena stated.

"I guess… you're right Elena." I muttered, Elena nodded, "I mean, where would I be without my drinking buddy?" I punched Alaric playfully in the shoulder, he rolled his eyes cheerfully.

"You'd be out on the streets if it weren't for us drinking buddies. See, I'm quite responsible in looking after him." Alaric smiled an incredibly jaunty and headstrong grin.

"Yeah right Ric; I'm the one dragging you from the gin when you've had too much." I uttered to him. "I will go with you to town Stefan, but only for the bourbon I bring back for my bud."

"After food and supplies, I guess we will have to stick around here for a while?" Jeremy spoke up.

"It's probably for the best." Stefan confirmed. "It is getting late, so does anyone need to get to anyone or call them? If not we can turn in for the night here. There are enough rooms and they're comfortable enough."

"Tyler? Shouldn't you call your mom?" Caroline held his arm anxiously. Tyler looked down uncomfortably. "I'm sorry Tyler… is she gone?"

"Yeah she's gone. But not in the way you think. She just packed up, left a note and left. It said on it that she was going away to family for a while, and _apparently_ she was sorry to leave me but had to. Whatever to that." He went red and began breathing heavily, avoiding eye-contact. Caroline slowly rubbed his back to calm him down.

"Are we all in this together?" Bonnie asked. Everyone nodded and said yes and generally agreed, including Katherine, who gave a curt nod.

"We are all in this together. So therefore tonight, we shall all sleep together." I announced innocently and cheerfully. Well at least I made Blondie laugh. "On a less provocative note, who here is good at cooking?" I asked.

"I guess I can cook." Elena mumbled.

"Excellent! Then scoot your keister over to the kitchen! We'll set the kitchen on fire!" I raised my eyebrows and beamed at her.

"I can cook too. Let me help." Stefan butted in.

"Don't be silly little brother… You can't cook." I joked, but may as well get him out of the way if I were to truly set the kitchen on fire with my culinary prowess. I grabbed the handy kitchen towel and draped it over my shoulder in culinary… fashion.

"So what are we cooking?" Elena asked. I rooted around through cupboards and fridges… we did not have the ingredients to do something exciting again after this. After one homemade meal we had only fruit and, well, cereal. My previous thoughts on 2 days worth of supplies were seriously overshot.

"We are going to make… pasta, no, Tomato, spinach and ricotta gnocchi. For the gnocchi we will have to bake from scratch, we haven't any readymade… so that's potatoes, egg, flour and top it off with some fine sea salt." I quoted the ingredients list from the old house recipes. "Please can you fill this pan with water and then salt it? I'm going to slice potatoes."

"Ok." Elena replied

"Hurry up I've finished." I stood exaggeratedly swaying my arms and tapping my foot.

"No fair!" Elena splashed me with the water she was using to fill up the pan. "Quit using vamp speed!"

After she salted the water, I threw in the sliced potatoes, being sure to let the water splash her back a little, which perked up a little smile. I then put the pan to boil.

"We've got a 40 minute wait just about. But what better way to pass the time than civil conversation."

"You're doing the eye thing again." She commented.

"You love it really…" I whispered seductively.

"Yeah, right!" She snorted, punching my shoulder and shaking her head.

"If the movies and the news have got it right, the world is coming to an end. It still looks like we're doing well." I pointed out to her. "I know that you and everyone else are worrying, but we will be ok. We're at an advantage of four vampires: Saint Stefan, Barbie, the devil and yours truly, the saviour."

"People are dying out there whatever happens. Matt is out there. He might already be dead." Elena lamented.

"Whilst we are in here preparing gnocchi." I replied. I would not have Elena being broody like my brother. "Survivor's guilt?"

"I guess… and I do. I want to celebrate making it so far with nearly everyone I love, but when I'm about to jump into the air, I think about how bad it makes me feel for so many to have not made it."

"You listen to me Elena," I moved to her and whirled her around, holding her by her shoulders so that she made eye contact, "You have lost many people already, you deserve to live." I told her firmly.

"I have vervain, Damon. Don't try to compel me." Ouch. I let go of her and broke eye contact.

"I wasn't trying to compel you Elena, you deserve to live. You and your loved ones. I don't care if I'm not included, but whoever you do love, you and they need to survive. It's only fair." I continued, still remaining firm, but warm. I smiled to myself. I hope my speech helped her see what I meant. She's too busy being selfless and sorry for everyone else.

She turned, and she smiled at me. A genuine warm smile that expressed _thank you._ I gave a gleeful smile of _you're welcome._ "Annnnd… that's the potatoes boiled!" We laughed lightly at the timing of the cooking.

I removed the potatoes and mashed them until smooth. Then left them to cool and dry on a board.

"Now we need to work on- no, wait we need that water." Elena paused and looked a bit bemused at being stopped just before pouring away the water. I laughed at her confusion, causing her to blush, "Don't worry you'll find out soon enough what the water will be needed for." Our smiles vanished when the lights dimmed and began flickering. "I think the grid's failing."

"Will we still get to make the gnocchi?" Elena asked.

"Probably, we still have gas and water. These lights are giving my sensitive eyes problems." Vampire headache, quite painful. Stefan then walked in carrying a laptop I didn't know we had.

"I've looked up the power problems on the internet; we are having a brownout sag in most of Virginia."

"Thanks for the update. We should still be able to cook, but if the power problems don't stop then get candles. I'm developing a vampire migraine." I groaned, clutching my head and pinching my eyebrows together.

[Jeremy's POV]

While we waited for Elena and Damon to prepare dinner, I was using the laptop to look up news. With the flickering lights I decided to view power shortages. Something was wrong with the entire internet, it was all so slow.

"Some of the plants around here are messed up, guys. And they're big suppliers I think too. Franklin with five-forty seven megawatts, Chesapeake with eight-twelve and Russell with seven-twelve."

"Can't we manage without three?" Tyler asked.

"It all adds up, and no, that's just the ones that have told the government about problems, and they're just for the state. Well, could be worse, in Europe a place called Sell-a-field," I wasn't sure quite how it was pronounced, but that sounded best, "which is nuclear, that got swarmed and blew up. Now they've got a Chernobyl style incident over there. If it weren't for the domes and stuff then everyone around would be blasted with radiation."

"I don't think it will be quite as bad at all as Chernobyl, surely?" Alaric remarked.

"I don't know… the news isn't travelling well." I pointed out, closing the screen.

_Later, as the dinner is served._

"And this is?" Alaric asked politely, a look of anticipation and curiosity plain on his face.

"Tomato, spinach and ricotta gnocchi, Ric. Don't worry, its Italian." Damon explained, looking smug. I guessed he made most of this. We all sat down and ate the rustic dish.

"Not bad!" Ric chuckled, devouring the food. Bonnie and Elena politely smiled, although Elena ate with more vigour. I wasn't a huge fan of all this cheese though. Liz was carefully blank, but pensive. Caroline and Tyler were acting more like they'd rather eat each other with flirting and body gestures. They drank each other in with eyes following large triangles up and down their bodies. Jeez, PDA, I looked away. Damon and Stefan ate casually, neither liking nor disliking the food.

An aroma of cheese and tomato wafted through the air, and the house became almost like a humble Italian villa, with the flickering orange brought on by the weak lights and the candles standing in for them.

After we finished, Stefan came forth with a bottle of wine.

"Who would like a drink?" He offered. Damon immediately refused.

"No thanks, I'm turning in for the night. I'll just have my little bedtime drink." He proceeded to carry a bottle of bourbon away.

Everyone but Bonnie and Tyler accepted wine.

"No thank you. I'm tired too. I want my mind clear for if I need to focus." She waved away Stefan.

"Nah. Not in the mood to drink." Tyler muttered.

"Will you be okay if I stay down here with Stefan?" Elena asked me as everyone finished and headed upstairs in quiet and tiredness.

"Sure Lena, I'm not a kid." I grumbled at her patronising nature towards me. Once I reached the room me and Bonnie were staying in I found the lights were out, so as quietly as possible I changed into night clothes and slipped into the bed sheets. Bonnie shuffled and brushed my arm with her hand.

"Night Bon." I whispered.

[Liz's POV]

Tears streaked down my cheeks. It was very late, possibly early morning. I left them a note. But I could not wait on this. It was my duty to protect the people and this, the last gathering of the council I could not miss. They had already waited nearly all of the allotted time of 3 hours.

On this night the streets of Mystic Falls were deathly silent. The only sound was the deep rumble of the choking black smoke rising in a plume from the town hall. Fortunately I did not have to go in that direction, instead I headed to the Lockwood mansion, recently abandoned seeing as Tyler chose to follow my-

I mustn't think of them now. I had no idea what to expect of this meeting, but in true council style it would be a big solution to a big problem.

[Caroline's POV]

I was awake. The double bed only had one after last night. I just wanted to be alone in my thoughts, to think everything through. I hadn't got anywhere and simply felt alone and afraid and cold. After everything, all I could think of was;

What would today bring in this world flipped on its head?

Probably more crazy death and undead monsters. This time though I had my mom, a place to stay, and all my most important friends. All I needed now was-

Shit! To anyone watching it would seem that I woke up, and then bolting upright and bawling my eyes out. After a few minutes of sobbing Damon knocked on the door.

"Hey Blondie, broke your straightener?" He sounded like he had his dick smirk on his face, I prepared to yell at him when he came in with such a serious face, and he looked sincerely like he was about to attempt to cheer me up. I doubt that will happen. "What has happened?" He soothed.

I took a moment of looking out of the window at the sunrise, it looked like the sky was on fire, the sun was a yellow orb surrounded by amber, orange, ochre fire, and black clouds spread towards it like decay. It was morning on the eve of destruction in Mystic Falls.

"It's my dad…" I sighed.

"Have you called him?" Damon whispered into my ear, keeping the conversation soft and low, "Stefan walked by, we don't need a crowd in on this. So I had more reason than enjoying the closeness" He smiled, and when I smiled a little back it grew to resemble the smile of the Cheshire cat.

"No… but I can't believe it took me this long to realise I hadn't. And he hasn't called me at all either." I fretted.

"Call him." Damon suggested. I nodded in reply, and grabbed my phone and dialled.

"This mobile phone cannot be reached at this time. It may be switched off or have a poor quality signal." The automated voice sounded.

"Dad, it's me. Call me when you can, love you." I felt totally dejected and worried for my dad. "His phone 'cannot be reached." I deadpanned.

"I bet a lot of people's phones aren't working now. Think about it. A lot of plants have switched off and hardly anyone is around to work. Receptions are going to go pretty quick." Damon encouraged me to think that maybe dad was still alive.

"I'm going to go ask mom." I stated. I walked straight out of my room, leaving Damon. I knocked on her door. "Mom?" I opened the door. It was empty. "Damon have you seen my mom?"

"I'm pretty sure she can handle herself, and with her job…" He let the sentence drag on. My eyes widened in realisation.

"She's gone." I breathed. Damon looked blank. "Damon she wouldn't just leave without coming back. She'd leave me a message."

"I'll look around, you search in there." He answered, disappearing.

I frantically pulled away the bed covers and the pillows. I opened every drawer and wardrobe.

"I found it. At the front door." Damon stated, handing me a piece of paper.

_Caroline,_

_I'm sorry that I ever had to leave you like this. If I could have done anything else I would have stayed with you. But just by staying until everyone went to sleep nearly overdid the waiting time for the council meeting. This meeting is to be the most important Mystic Falls has ever had. We face a new supernatural threat. We will discuss what has caused this, and why. The meeting is scheduled to last many hours, and once it's over, I will have to go with the council to fight off the walking dead. As crazy as that sounds. Who knows? It could be witches, vampires or something totally different._

_Listen to me now. My choice has been made. To turn this down would mean banishment from the council and to have my job lost and the Forbes' shunned in this town in its darkest hour. I'll contact you when I can. I love you._

_Lockwood Mansion._

"What did it say?" Damon implored curiously.

"She's left for the council and decided her _reputation_ was better than me." I forced out 'reputation' with as much bitterness as I could. I tossed the letter into the air, which was instantly caught by Damon who scanned through it.

Stefan and Elena walked into the front room.

"Ho, Stefan!" Damon bellowed.

"Morning Damon. What are you and Caroline looking at?" Stefan asked, peering at the letter.

"Liz left in the night to go to a council meeting at Tyler's pad. Why wasn't the puppy allowed in your bed?" He smirked at his werewolf joke.

"I wanted some alone time. I think I regretted it." I muttered. Damon abruptly broke the tense atmosphere with a slightly awkward and flamboyant clap.

"Well let's get everyone up for breakfast." Damon beamed.

"I guess you're right, we've got a tough day ahead of us."

[Bonnie's POV]

I nearly jumped out of my covers when Damon stormed in banging on the door with his fist. My first sight was his grinning, mischievous face. Jeremy groaned.

"Damon!" I shrieked. "Get out!" I held the covers around my neckline

"Is he even old enough for that?" Damon gestured to Jeremy, who scowled. "We're having breakfast, now. And Jer…" He drawled out Jeremy's name, "I'm going to say to you what I said to your sister, if I see something I haven't seen before, I'll throw a dollar at it."

"We'll be down in five, but that's if you leave." Jeremy mumbled grumpily.

"And shut the door!" I shouted as he walked out, he shut the door slowly, waggling his eyebrows in an annoying and suggestive way.

[Alaric's POV]

My initial reaction to Bonnie's cry was that she was in danger. Then I realised the far worse truth that it was Damon giving a wake-up call. I climbed out of bed. I quickly pulled up yesterday's black trousers, which were no longer ironed. I slipped on my white tee and green-striped long sleeve shirt. My hair would have to wait as-

"Early riser, Ric!" Damon observed on my apparent readiness.

"No, I was woken up when you were in the other room." I shrugged.

"I guess that sort of wake up would be undignified for a history teacher of a man like yourself." Damon mused.

"You hit the nail on the head man." I replied. "So… breakfast?" I quizzed.

"Ask Stefan, he insisted that he cook." Damon shrugged.

[Tyler's POV]

"Hey! Hound of the Baskervilles, wake up!" Damon roared. Before I could react he pulled open the curtains and approached my bed to pull off the covers.

"Wait, dude, stop! I'm getting up!" I pleaded.

"Too slow, dude." He tore away the duvet, leaving the bed feeling far colder than before. "Breakfast will be on soon. Get up." He finished, marching out of my room. I quickly put on my football shirt, having left on my jeans last night.

I made my way down the stairs, noticing a bedraggled Bonnie and almost zombie-like Jeremy just ahead. Fortunately Jeremy simply had the tired appearance and shuffle of a zombie rather than the appetite of one.

We made our way to the dining room where Elena and Stefan were serving out undercooked toast.

"Sorry guys, the toaster wouldn't work properly." Elena apologised.

"You mean the grid's still having a brownout?" Alaric corrected.

"Yeah…" She replied slowly.

"Caroline." I called from the door, not unkindly. She looked straight at me, it didn't look like she had slept brilliantly; small bags had appeared beneath her eyes accompanied by a dark marking in the corners of her eyes, another symptom of sleep loss. She stood up quickly and walked to me and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"I'm sorry Ty. And I don't want to do that again. I'm sorry." She mumbled, face buried into my shoulder. I held her in a tight embrace and we remained silent.

"It's ok, Care. Are you ok now?" I asked shortly after.

"My mom left Tyler. I don't think I'll be alright for a little while." She whispered.

"Makes two of us then." I replied.

"I guess it does. Let's have breakfast." She pulled away, her eyes slightly puffier.

After toast we had a continental breakfast as cooked by Stefan. He wasn't a bad cook.

"Ok, I need to ask, is everyone happy with the plan that the vampires go into town to get some supplies? We are much faster, and stronger. We will get the food, water, fuel and everything we could need from there."

Everyone agreed unanimously, Elena looked impassive and away from Stefan. They must have argued about this last night. I slowly and reluctantly agreed. If Caroline could handle me in wolf form, then surely she could handle those bumbling corpses. "Now that we're finished. Damon, Caroline, Katherine and I will move to Mystic Falls, we will stick as close to the edge of town as we can." He instructed.

[Damon's POV]

"Can't we have a _proper_ breakfast Stefan?" I asked ambiguously.

"I guess. You know where the cellar is Damon. Get everyone their fill." Stefan waited at the front door. Damon returned in a few seconds with 3 bags of A+.

"Straight from the tap is better of course, but we make do. We're _ethical_ now." I drawled.

"Maybe I'll find a bite to eat in town Damon, care to join me?" Katherine offered.

"No Katherine. You will be with me." Stefan deadpanned.

"Of course Mr Salvatore. The better, more sensible brother. Will you promise me a good time?" She leered.

"No." He replied conclusively. I chuckled at Katherine's pout.

"Shut up single boy." She muttered. My wall crumbled briefly, and it showed in my face, but for a split second.

"Now now, dear. Let's not get childish." I grumbled. My walls back up.

"S_ingle_ boy." She growled.

"You're the one that's meant to live an eternity alone Kathy." I muttered.

"Will you two give it a break?" Caroline whined.

"Frankly no Blondie." I answered back. We began running at vampire speed towards the very edge of town. The air rushed at my hair and face and was deafening. Within seconds we had reached Mystic Falls. "No welcome to Mystic Falls." I read the sign. Someone had sprayed on the 'no'. Two police cruisers had previously blocked the road and had placed down bollards, but a greyhound had barrelled through them to the exit side before skidding into a tree. Both were smouldering and coated with soot. The difference was that the entire inside of the bus had exploded out of the rear. It looked like a bomb had been used. "Looks like we're walking." I commented after seeing the bus.

"Mmhmm." Caroline replied.

"What do we do from here then?" Katherine questioned Stefan.

"We find food, water and supplies. And we find them as fast as we can. Then we get out of here. We may be vampire but we may not be invulnerable to these creatures. Do not steal from any people you find though. Things aren't that desperate yet. Can you hear that?" He paused his instructions when the faint rumbling sounded.

We waited and listened to the rumbling. It was coming from within the town and getting closer.

"I smell diesel." I pointed out. Then we heard the rumbling sound come into focus as the vehicle rounded the corner, it sounded like a big and old engine. Katherine saw it first.

"It's a tractor." At first when we saw, the driver appeared confused, but then he realised we were human, or rather, not zombified. He waved and smiled grimly.

"Morning all! I'm from a farm out of town. I err, cleared this road end to end when I was passing through to do the groceries. I didn't find no people nor walkers. As for groceries, best place to go now is centre of town. None of the people have got into any shops around there yet because of all the dead."

"I think we will manage sir." I cut him off.

"Err yeah…" He stammered, driving away.

"Yokels…" I despaired.

"I thought he was friendly and helpful." Caroline objected. I waved off her comment.

"Me and Katherine, Damon and Caroline. Agreed?" Stefan spoke quickly.

"Reluctantly." Katherine agreed.

"We'll meet back here in two hours." Stefan concluded. I waited until he was out of earshot.

"Barbie. We're going to find your mother."

**A/N: Sadly, school approaches. I might not be able to update as much as I have done this summer. Starting from now. I've got projects to work on and plan ready for my final year of secondary school. GCSE's… GAH! Haha! I will try my best to update as fast as possible, but sometimes I might just have a really busy schedule. Sorry.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

**Review and favourite!**


	9. Founder's Council

**A/N: I've been away for so long! I'm really really sorry! My computer basically exploded (motherboard shorted out) and until nearly a fortnight ago I've been without any pc besides the occasional laptop that I could only use long enough to check all my updates rather than get down to some proper writing… As I write this I have just got MS office today!**

**With all groveling aside I'm really happy to see that people have still been reading my fanfic! Thank you so much! And now on with chapter 9! :)**

[Narrator]

"As far as I can tell, only this road through is safe." Damon mused as he and Caroline walked down the desolate street. Signs of life were only visible from the presence of semi-organised refuse piles, and the birds that tore at them. At window a curtain fluttered. Both Damon and Caroline felt eyes upon them from the surrounding houses.

"It's best we keep our distance." He murmured. A door creaked ominously. Caroline and Damon met eyes with four other eyes, two high up and furtive, two lower down and canine. A man limped onto the lawn with his chocolate Labrador. He had a gash to his head and a swollen leg that was caked in viscous blood. A thick, oily sheen coated his skin and the sweat made his clothes cling to him like matted cotton skin.

"Lovely day for dog walking!" The man croaked, laughing weakly before doubling over in a coughing fit.

Damon snorted, smirking. The dog growled at him, having noticed him for the first time. The man hobbled inside, closing the door. The dog sat and stared at the house for a while, before following the scent of food.

"That's so sad." Caroline breathed.

"That's life, or death, as the case may be." Damon stated blankly. Caroline chose to ignore the comment and looked on bleakly. "It seems most of the people in the houses here are wise, oldies. Smart enough to stay inside. Don't know if you can hear, but the fringes of town sound like hell."

"No, I can hear it." She replied, shuddering. The slightly rough gardens and retirement bungalows gave way to more and more townhouses blasted with coarse destruction and many more cars, until the cars came to block the road off. A Dodge Ram and a Civic had tried and failed to maneuver around an '88 Winnebago which itself had come to a halt when colliding with two dumpsters full of various sharp objects, wedging and slicing into the underside and wheel arches.

A Junker had stopped just short of the pileup, its engine running and radio playing;

"_No dang zombies gonna shut down this station! We have our own generators! Right now I'm looking out on our county and I see all the people leaving their homes… well I FORESEE that! Listen up folks! Head to the cities! It is SAFE! They've got food… they've got shelter! They've got COPS! Not like Mystic County. Look outside and count the totalled cars! How about your trash? Collected? NO! Cos the town's been turned upside down by the walkers. "Mystic Falls," the NBC says, "Mystic Falls, one of the highest zombie counts state-wide!""_

The DJ continued to promote the government's evacuation plans;

"_Pack__your__bags__in__the__trunk__and__head__to__the__city!__Nearest__refugee__centre__…__?__" _The DJ mock-ponders, _"__Well__it__would__be-__"_A noise not unlike a mechanical-clucking chicken sounds followed by white noise.

"What happened?" Caroline demanded quietly yet firmly. Damon shook his head briskly,

"No idea Barbie." He reaches for the radio. He recoils as though he touched a hot stove. "Two of them in the back." He breathed. Carefully yet firmly grabbing her arm, he leads Caroline around the cars and into an alley between the steadily clustering row houses.

He jumped over an oil-stained fence onto the bare lawn of a backyard, Caroline followed, vaulting athletically over. "Shortcut." Damon quipped, before leaping over a second fence. This garden had basic plastic furniture and an overturned barbecue.

The next garden had an occupant, who appeared shell shocked as soon as he laid eyes on the two vampires vaulting over his DIY barbed-wire picket fence.

"SHOTGUN!" He bellowed, eyes darting to the curtained French windows.

"Ouch. Chicken wire." He groaned, looking down at the DIY wire he laid his hands on.

"Don't be such a baby." Caroline hissed through slightly clenched teeth, releasing her hand from the dissipated pain on her thigh.

A woman's voice cried from inside. A heavy splat followed quickly by a gushing noise sounded from within the house. Blood's odour was thick in the air for the undead. The near-deafening blam of a shotgun erupted. The French windows disintegrated as the woman crashed through it, flailing and tossing the shotgun to the petrified man who was now crouching in a panic-instinct. Caroline snapped her head to face the crack and rush of an inferno leaping from what was once Mystic Falls General.

Three helicopters flew toward Downtown whilst an apache held behind, observing. Tendrils of smoke whipped away from an empty hellfire chamber. The three other helicopters flew at 109 degree angles away from each other to surrounding neighborhoods.

The local drama inspired Damon to grab her hand, 'let's go.' He uttered.

Gardens and houses blurred as the two sprinted in the direction of the Lockwood mansion. They had to slow to human-athlete speeds as they reached the denser parts of town.

"Anyone who can hear the sound of my voice needs to head to the green concession stand at the town square park immediately! We need to evacuate Mystic Falls and other towns as soon as possible! The evacuation to the designated tri-cities is to be made now!" The helicopters announced to their areas.

A brownstone row blocked off Damon and Caroline's route behind houses. They climbed onto the centre-most point of the row- on the top of a backyard wall.

The row gave three options: The burning kitchen of one made the left hand side impassable; the opposite end had a multitude of corpses piled face down with no apparent head trauma; the middle house appeared safest- despite the sounds of clattering as some silverware fell to the floor and a stereo playing heavy techno reverberated off the walls and the sensitive vampire ears.

"Middle." Caroline muttered, heading into the garden of plant pots and masonry.

"Hello!" Damon shouted gaining the attention of an elderly woman dressed in bizarre combination of tweed dress and jacket and Kevlar.

"I think you'd better come in. My neighbors are causing me grief!" She invited conspiratorially as Damon was about to compel her. Damon awkwardly followed her with Caroline browsing the décor with distaste. "It started yesterday of course. We are relieved we didn't go to the square like those lost souls. We stayed in here and closed all the curtains. Dreadful noises came from all around, except my quiet upstairs neighbors." She switched off the techno, "Dravid and his friends from number nine came down just now and stole my best and biggest knives! They left this armored jacket. I cannot remember its name but my husband had worked with these new man-made materials at his work." She looked distant upon mentioning her husband. She then took a deep breath and began talking again, "Most, if not all, of the residents of these three houses left earlier when the police and the guard stopped protecting the streets. They're away in the places that are worst. I wouldn't go to the big roads, they're worse than here. You best run along, I'll handle my own here, if need be I can use the old shelter." She inclined with her hand that this was below ground. As quickly as the peculiar encounter started, even more quickly it had ended.

Damon and Caroline wasted no time in leaving, leaving the woman to gather up the remaining spilt cutlery.

Meanwhile, in Georgia

[Narrator]

Shane opened the door from the inside to room 450.

A soldier called out "Let's go!", whilst others shouted of retreat amongst other muffled commands from within their protective masks.

"Hey, hey! Whoa-whoa-whoa!" Shane tried to calmly get the attention of one of the soldiers or civilians rushing past.

"Get out of here!" Another soldier yelled anxiously.

"Ma'am. Ma'am, please!" Shane pleaded, "Can you help me!" She simply made panicked noises and shook him off, fleeing with the others. An explosion and gunfire racketed followed by a klaxon began blaring outside. He sprinted down the corridor past more fleeing survivors. Grabbing a gurney, he stopped as he saw a scene of soldiers with automatic rifles hustling a group of staff and patients outside the cafeteria. They then shot down every last one. He froze with shock and fear as he watched the merciless act of the army.

They then began shooting the bodies in their heads with Berettas to ensure they did not wake up as more of the undead. If this precaution had been taken so much sooner then maybe the disease could have been controlled and some isolated citizens rescued in some form of civil base.

The cafeteria doors opened and walkers gripped onto the nearest unit. He began firing wildly at the walls, ceiling and his comrades. Some light fittings sparked as they were blasted with his rifle. The unit was quickly taken down, one soldier struggling whilst another fired a few useless Berretta shots. Shane ran back to Rick's room with the gurney.

"Okay. I'm gonna get you outta here Bud." He said determinedly as he began lifting Rick onto the wheeled gurney. He stopped as he saw the hospital machines and various attachments of the medical supports.

"Okay… okay." He gasped as he tried to work out the machines. He put him back down as he moved to look at the vital readings.

"What do I do?" He asked Rick, panic inching into his voice, ducking quickly as another soldier entered the room.

"C'mon corporal, move out!" An officer hailed the corporal, distracting him away before he could discover Shane or do anything to Rick. Shane pounded the floor in anger at his own helplessness to rescue his best friend.

"Listen to me; if you're going to wake up I need you to do it now! Ok, now! Please man! You show a sign, anything!" He spoke with concern and anger and fear. Another explosion shook the building, showers of plaster and dust rained down on room 450. Shane ducked under the bed before he could be hit. The computers whirred down to a stop as the electricity was cut out by the blast. Shane looked back and forth between Rick and the monitor. "Rick?" He leaned over and listened for breathing and a heartbeat. His face contorted with grief as amidst the chaos he found no vital signs. It seemed Rick was dead. He began crying into Rick's chest before pulling himself up with tears glinting in his eyes. He muttered an apology at his own failure, a sob catching in his throat. He pressed his hand over Rick's eyes. His breathing became more caught up in sobs and he let out a strangled "okay," as he ran out into the hall. He aimed his handgun in his line of sight, seeing one last group of soldiers shoot and push aside a woman.

The undead rounded the corner. He grabbed a bed sheet and pressed it over his mouth and nose, with a grim defiance he blocked the door with the gurney, closing the door firmly and dashing for the nearest exit.

[Stefan's POV]

We began towards the stores on the outskirts of Mystic Falls. I had no idea just how safe the street that the farmer cleared was.

"I know a general store. It's not too far from here." I told Katherine curtly.

"Right…" She replied nonchalantly.

Hopefully the highway is mostly quiet; I couldn't hear the normal traffic... After walking past some empty houses and small scattered trash we reached the highway that bypassed Mystic Falls.

_Deserted_ cars were everywhere.

"So where's the store?" Katherine asked, observing the abandoned gridlock with a bemused expression.

By the looks of the traffic, a jam had been created and everyone had had to leave very quickly. Some cars still had corpses in them whilst others had the undead clawing at the glass, just too weakly to break through.

Until they spotted us, they then began beating the windows and doors with renewed strength. Other corpses awoke to the deep beat and joined in.

"Can you keep a balance if we jump over them?" I asked quickly.

"I'm more worried about you Stefan. I'm fine." She replied curtly and began charging across the roofs of cars. I followed quickly after, leaping from car to car.

A sunroof cracked and nearly collapsed as I landed on it, springing off before it gave way completely. A gored fist managed to then break through it behind me and pulled out its body from the car. About a mile ahead was the exit that leads to the aforementioned general store.

The walkers ahead had already been disturbed and were wandering around the desolate traffic, we soon saw why.

"There are people ahead! There are two bikes and a minivan!" I warned Katherine, who completely ignored me and continued at a vampire speed. I slowed to a human pace of sprinting. The undead saw their new chance to take me down and began closing in at a renewed speed. Those disturbed by the small group and those disturbed by Katherine were already at full pace as they closed on me.

In my growing turmoil I lost track of my footing, my left foot crashing through a Buick's windshield and becoming caught in the steering wheel. Quite quickly the ground rushed to meet me and I was caught off-guard, too shocked to right myself, and feverish arms clasped firmly around my trapped ankle.

[Katherine's POV]

Stefan slowed behind me to appear human to this unimportant crowd. They would soon die anyway, they were about to become trapped behind the fishtailed truck- which just happened to be the largest type of truck used by FedEx. It was sprawled along the road just short of a burnt out gas station.

Either the rotting undead would devour them, or the tanker just local to the smoldering station would.

Stefan was now far behind, I could hear his sluggish pace. _I__wish__he__would__hurry__up!_ Those _things_ closed around him. I reached the turning and proceeded to wait behind a tree, noticing first that no one but he was following me. Then I heard him stumble as glass shattered. I sprinted back into the face of danger.

"_Stefan!_" I shrieked.

[Stefan's POV]

"_Stefan!_" Katherine's shrill voice carried towards me as I struggled to get my foot free. Using vampire speed I hit the attacker as forcefully as I could away from my foot. They did not move again. I kicked the steering wheel apart. I broke free. With no choice left I fled as fast as I could to where Katherine waited, hidden again amongst the trees after she saw me escape. My wounds completed the healing process mid-step and I vaulted over the wall.

"We should warn Damon." I already had my phone out as I aired my concern. The dial-tone sounded, before cutting out and being replaced by a no-signal. I tried again,

"Fortunately we are _not_ surrounded Stefan, or this phone call wouldn't have happened." Damon hissed.

"We need to head back as soon as we can. Have you found anything?" I asked with confusion in my voice as to what had Damon so anxious.

"_As__soon__as__we__can_? Can't you handle them brother? They move slower than their living, heart-beating food sources." Damon mocked half-seriously.

"You wouldn't say that, Damon. Not if you were in my situation. An unstable roof collapsed when I landed on it, once I had got out I was lucky I wasn't torn apart in the crowd of the dead." I countered.

"Sure… alright, where were you to have got into such a pickle?" Damon didn't sound convinced but asked the question anyway.

"The highway. And call me when you are heading back. We will be back in no later than an hour." I hung up before he could reply.

The group of survivors drove past us, mouths gaping and a look of shock and wonder on their faces. They did not stop to ask anything.

"Anyone will think they were insane anyway, and how many are left for them to tell?" Katherine muttered casually. We walked down the road towards the store. The thin band of trees to separate the highway from the streets quickly gave way to the large houses. Nearly all had what were the remnants of hastily vacated campsites, the houses boarded up and gardens littered with campsite waste. Anything of use was taken. Ahead the mutterings of activity were just audible.

A sign for the area had various public announcements surrounding it:

"Welcome to _Waltonshire__Estates_" And then "Nearest government evacuation centre: Mystic Civil Hall

Tri-Cities

Atlanta City, Georgia"

"Isn't that too far from here?" Katherine pondered incredulously.

"I think so. It would explain the people ahead staying here instead of moving." I replied, in deep thought over why the names had been crossed out. Was the situation this bad already?

We began to approach the houses that were still occupied.

"Fortuna. Camp Population: 126." A plywood spray-painted sign read.

"Stop right there! We need to check you for bites!" A man in a police riot-gear uniform ran toward us carrying a Heckler & Koch UMP sub-machine gun. Similar SWAT units stood at the sidelines, weapons trained on us.

"We can outrun them, easy." Katherine murmured. "So gentlemen, do I lose the underwear too?" She suggested with an arched eyebrow as she realized that the code of checking for bites involved undressing.

"Err…" The cop stuttered. She scrutinized him further, smirking at causing his discomfort.

"You will check my temperature- I know that it is a big symptom- you know that I'm not bitten or I would be having a fever now. You will allow me in without further checks." She compelled him and then stood back, face carefully blank. He stiffly placed his now-ungloved hand against her forehead, and nodded.

"She's healthy!" He announced in a slightly dulled tone, "She needs no further checks." She smiled with mock-gratitude and walked past him. The other SWAT team members looked shifty on their feet but did not object. I began after Katherine but the officer's compulsion did not apply to me. "I'm not taking a risk with you, pal. C'mon, rule of entry you need to strip down to your undergarments."

[Damon's POV]

We were making progress… slowly.

We had left the centre of town almost as quickly as we entered, not disturbing the more gross undead in the area as we passed through. Now we were around the big house streets. Lots of trees for nasties to hide behind and lots of houses with too many windows for this kind of apocalypse.

"We're nearly there." Caroline whispered anxiously.

"I know. I work here most of the time." I replied in a sarky monotone.

"Oh… shit." Caroline cussed at the site of Lockwood mansion.

Whilst all the other residences had been abandoned or were quiet, Lockwood Residence had been such a hive of activity that walkers from miles around had flocked to the house. At the front gate were two squad cars labeled _SHERIFF_; they were stocked full of shotguns and other pretty heavy guns. By the looks of the grounds no one had died out in the open, instead a crude garrison had been breached and the resistance just retreated inwards.

The dead littered the car park along with used ammo, and the rich cars of the council. I could clearly see the Lockwood cars, one had broken windows. Three luxury sedans had blocked the front door but the undead had plowed through, around and over them.

We stepped gingerly inside to be _completely_ disoriented by the sound of shuffling footsteps throughout the house.

"Neeeyargh!" A portly man with his lunch around his mouth and torn stomach bellowed at us, raising his arm in an almost pointing gesture as he stomped toward us. I pushed him over and we stealthily moved through the house. Around 20 walkers crowded around the tubby as he pulled himself up.

The spiral stair case at the back had broken balcony in places, what broke it is anyone's guess. The spot where I stood to escort Elena was replaced by the rubble that someone had had the time to shift. The back garden had a council member face down beside a collapsed dining table. The council gathering in a circle meant they had been snuck up to quite easily as they noisily debated, and three more members were laid in a row, covered with spoiled tablecloths. No one had 'finished' them. They would be reanimated soon.

"Do you know any of them?" I asked Caroline. She shook her head and looked to me in confusion.

"Don't you?" She whispered questioningly.

"No'p'e. They're not regulars." Popping the p, I cast aside her comment and began making my way to the top of the house.

We jumped up to the balcony and entered by the unlocked glass doors. The bedrooms and studies and other rooms had some dead, some undead, but no council members this time.

That left the regulars who were nowhere to be seen.

Either they were still in the house, or they were stupid enough to make their way on foot.

Then I found a bathroom. I knocked three times quietly and politely to make sure I wasn't mistaken for undead. Ha. I paused, no one unlocked the door. I knocked again.

"You better not come in here!" Mrs. Lockwood hissed. She was pissed at something or someone.

"Why? Anyone else in there?" I asked curtly. I had little interest in saving this woman.

"No. They left on foot." _Shoot._ "They left me for dead when I was surrounded in my car."

"That explains the windows on that car." I noted, Caroline nodded, relieved that at the least her mom could be alive out there.

"Are you hurt?" I demanded.

"No." She snapped, "I'm fine."

"Then either nature's calling to you, or you have something to _hide_ Carol." I let my suspicion shine through.

"No, it's neither. I'm going to open the door now." The door clicked and she opened it slowly, with apprehension. "Caroline?" her frown grew into wide eyes. "Oh thank god you're alive!" She cried with slightly questionable sincerity.

"Can't say the same about you." I muttered quietly. Carol then broke down into a coughing fit. "My suspicions confirmed. Where's the bite?" I demanded fiercely.

She made an effort of confusion and innocence. I stared intensely until she backed down.

"My, my arm. I tried to stop them getting in but they just started trying to eat straight through my arm." She whimpered. She revealed four crescent-shaped wounds of the two bites that she had hidden under her coat. They were weeping and still bleeding. A battlefield of yellow, purple and red on her arms. By wearing the thick coat that smelt strongly of the outdoors, the familiar _dying_ smell had been disguised.

"I won't take you with me. I will not risk anyone to you when you die and come back." I stated bluntly. Her eyes widened further with panic, if they widened any more they would fall out and then how would she munch on the living without sight?

"Please take me with you! I can't die here on my own!" She pleaded pitifully.

"Fair enough." I finished her with all my strength. Instantaneous. "She can't hurt anyone now. And I saw to her wishes." Caroline began to object to my tough justice, "She was already dying. I cut out the suffering, and now there will be one less zombie. There's nothing left here Caroline. Just grab the fridge or something and let's go."My voice and face were desolately empty of emotion.

**A/N: Phew! This sets a milestone. Chapter 10 should be up in around a fortnight! Earlier if I'm fast! As much as I said in the past that the story would calm down… well. I think there's a lot more action coming your way!**

**Thanks to everyone who's sticking along with this fanfic despite its hugely rubbish lateness!**


	10. Potential Threats

Chapter 10: Potential Threats

**A/N: As luck would have it, my pc passed away a little while ago, and if computers could rot, they would smell like my computer. I got a new pc this week though! Had some mock exams… Then I was away for the weekend!**

**DarkAngel1864: Vamp blood a cure-all? Hmm… I'll leave that question hanging in the balance! Haha got a little carried away with car models… hope this chapter isn't too intense in cars…**

**MidnightMoon101: Things can only get worse before they get better!**

**ELLEGIRL840816: There will be more Walking Dead I promise! I just need to give the group a nice push out of Mystic! Then we'll see where along the road they join up!**

**Thanks for reviewing!**

[Elena's POV]

_As far as I could tell, Jer was borrowing Stefan's Mac to research the latest from of the dead and their progression in destroying the world. Bonnie resorted to furiously pacing, with ideas to what Jeremy should next look up. Ric chose to "drink for courage" as he said just after the search party left._

_Tyler watched the drive from the front door, I don't know why. The only people that knew this house wouldn't hurt us. Everyone else would be panicked by the dense woods hiding walkers._

Walkers._ That's apparently what they are called. Many can't cope with a stupid movie monster coming to kill us. Apparently we can't be killed by such a fictional monster. Apparently vampires, werewolves and ghosts aren't real either. Bring on the devil and God._

_Bonnie's stood at the door. I guess she's a little worried about me. Sine Stefan, Damon and Care left I've locked myself away and wrote in my journal. I would face the day, only today is more different than any day. I'm beginning to think that_

"Elena? You ok?" Bonnie asked.

"I'm fine Bonnie, thanks." I muttered, not looking up from my journal. I reached for the words that had rose out of reach.

"I've heard that before," Bonnie replied suspiciously, "Spill." I shrugged. But she was relentless; she folded her arms and waited for a better answer. I arched my eyebrows. "Elena, what's wrong? What's worrying you?"

"I don't know what the hell is going on." I blurted. Her face softened as she quickly judged how I was feeling, and closed in for a rare and needed hug.

[Stefan's POV]

Only a patch of darker skin, undetectable to human eyes, showed where the walker had bitten me, as I put my shoe back on the vein beneath twitched twice, before falling still once more.

Though they allowed me my underwear by means of retaining dignity, Katherine still looked on with an amused and almost _appreciating_ look.

"I didn't know all you needed was a uniform to get your pants off Stefan. Maybe I should borrow some. Shall I be a policewoman or nurse?" She teased.

"Drop it Katherine." I grumbled. We began walking to what appeared to be the centre of the camp. A circle of RVs faced a bonfire being built by some elder sons of the Mystic Falls effluents. Two other boys carried stones that they were using to create a light shield around the pile of logs.

"Evenin'!" A suited man called politely, strolling toward us. "I'm Michael Hunt, but you can call me Mike." He had the twang of a countryman, he extended a hand. I shook it limply. "Welcome to Fortuna. We set up with the local P.D. as soon as it seemed that the homes weren't best. Safety in numbers, right?" He paused briefly, "We go back for our house items, but, we're sitting tight here until the army come 'round guns blazing on dem walkers!"

"Is this area safe? It isn't far to the road, and it's got a lot of them." I warned.

"Pah!" He waved off the warning, "We're rich men! Hunting is our hobby, and we have a trained cadre!"

"What does hunting provide for in safety?" I quizzed sceptically.

"Uh, well we have the ability to quietly stalk our prey," this gained a snort from Katherine at his claim, "Plus, we plan to send our men out as scouts 'round the clock!"

"Walkers!" Two police hailed the camp. With cold efficiency they fired on the undead who approached, coupled in mutual frenzy of hunger. "Fortuna!" The sharpshooter boomed, to a cheering reply.

An ear-splitting screech burst through. It was the woman from the caravan on the highway.

"What the fuck are you!" She screamed at Katherine in rage and terror. The Fortuna camp atmosphere darkened intensely, Michael Hunt's smile froze and warped. The arms-holders' safety's all began switching off. "I saw _you_," She pointed accusingly at me, "get bitten! Yep, we saw everything between you two. Your crazy speed and him getting' bit'!" We turned to run, stomping through a stretch of bog before the butt of a gun hit my head. Two police grabbed my arms whilst another rolled up my trouser to investigate having received instruction from the woman. A flash of red mud was revealed before I used my agility to escape. A few feet away, I turned to the stunned group;

"I'm sorry. I only sought out food for friends, and-" the words froze as I watched a huge group of zombies sneak upon the Fortuna camp. "RUN! WALKERS!" I cried. As I followed Katherine, carnage pounced on the camp. Two cars and an RV started their engines, maybe one of them drove away but another didn't get far. The RV hit a tree. Besides the dead, there were no footfalls.

[Tyler's POV]

The sun was just beginning to go down. Who knew keeping watch was so dull. I saw some deer and other animals, but no people.

That was until seconds later, when a group began walking along the edge of the trees to the house. They looked like they were wearing hunting clothes, and some sort of masks.

They were wearing full-on gas masks. Gas masks and US Army gear. Soldiers. The leader barked through the muffling of his mask.

"Kid! You alone up here?" He lowered his gun slightly; I tightened the grip on mine. It was only a handgun, but still.

"Why are you asking?" I asked, trying not to seem suspicious. They picked up on it and raised their rifles a little again.

"Evacuation. We're evacuating every civilian to a safer area." He stated exactly like he was reading a book.

"Oh. Right, I'll go get them from in the house." I retreated up the steps and tripped. A bullet hit the door from a silenced gun. I ran as fast as I could from that point.

"FIRE!" The leader shouted, and the four soldiers opened fire on the house. Bursting through the door I knew that everyone had heard. Jeremy stood in the hall.

"What's going on?" Jeremy cried dumbly.

"Five army soldiers are trying to kill us! I don't even know why! Just get away from the door!" I yelled. The soldiers began busting the door. Good thing the Salvatore's used door locks.

"Where is everybody? We need to all get into a room out of the way! The back rooms are best!" Alaric barked, trying to get everyone's attention, he held vervain grenades. Bonnie and Jeremy were already by the back door; Elena chose to follow orders and followed them. The soldiers broke down the door as we entered the living room at the back. "This idea _might_ go horribly wrong, but, I'm going to see if vervain grenades work well as normal grenades. Either way, I want you all to just run. Who has a phone?" Alaric spoke low.

"I do. I'll call Stefan." Elena replied.

"Right, I'll stay behind and see what I can do. I've got 3 vervain grenades and- watch out Tyler- a wolfsbane grenade. You all go out the back and find somewhere to hide nearby. Elena, might be best that you stick around near the door until your call is done. I'm staying here."

"If you're staying then I'm staying." Elena stated. Alaric sighed.

"Well get out of the line of fire, then get out of here." He replied. "All of you; run!"

"Please don't be long Elena, it's really dangerous." Bonnie pleaded as Jeremy pulled her away with a grim but anxious look. Then I realised something.

"What's taking them so long?" I asked, the soldiers hadn't even attempted to get into the room. Everyone stopped and listened.

It was dead quiet.

[Elena's POV]

I wasted no time in dialling Stefan's number. No idea where they were or what the soldiers were doing, I hoped Stefan would arrive in time.

"Elena? We're coming back already. We couldn't get food in time; it's just too dangerous to go tramping into the town. It's a good thing I heal! Wait- why are you calling?" Stefan sounded tired out and almost stressed. "Okay. My mind is more organised now, I was running." How can he run and use the phone? It must be a perk of their reflexes.

"We're being attacked Stefan." I whispered. I could hear the running over the phone now as he moved at top speed.

"By what?" He exclaimed.

"The army. They just walked up and started shooting Tyler!" I groaned with the stress. "He's okay. They missed. But, _hurry_ Stefan. I don't know what they're doing, they are still _here_.

[Soldiers POV's]

_Meanwhile the group of soldiers cleared the entire building. One soldier stood behind the locked door to the room Elena and Alaric stood in, this man had heard everything except Alaric's plan. He used the planned signal to alert his team of more people on their way. Two men searched the rest of the house; two more soldiers watched the others search for hiding places._

"_It's cat and mouse here." The voice of a soldier with a lack of compassion and intelligence rumbled._

_The officer replied with heavy scorn; "Shut up and follow orders. We surround them, and then we close in."_

"_Rest of the house is clear." The upstairs units reported._

"_Proceed to exterior targets!" The officer gave a hoarse whisper from a few feet behind the door._

Alaric froze. He signalled to Elena that someone stood behind the door. She nodded, backing toward the door.

"_One more potential threat leaving the house!" The brute outside stated._

"_Wait for the other two. Johnson is across the glade, trained. Make sure you are. We need to do this cleanly and efficiently- Johnson. You are ready?" Officer replied._

_A shuddering gasp escaped Johnson's lips. "But they're _kids_. None of them look even senior."_

"_You are _not_ disobeying orders again, Johnson!" The officer managed to keep his voice low, just._

"_1 proceeding to the rear of the house, sir." One of the two upstairs explorers announced._

"_2 proceeding." The other announced._

"_1 ready."_

"_2 ready. Locked." The other three stated their readiness._

"_On the count of three, I will flush out the final one with a grenade; you will open fire on three." The officer prepared another house raid customary to how far to shit the whole operation to stop the tide of infection. Everyone was failing on Officer Williams. Only his orders and his men obeyed him, Private Johnson waveringly at best. He took a breath._

"_One. Two. Three."_

**A/N: Well Christmas holidays are nearly here! School work's ending like the Atlanta government and that gives me ample time to properly get my head down and write something punctual! Seeing as there was no Damon here, there's a double dose next time! Ending it on a cliffy too! But I'm going to really try to update soon! This pc appears to have substantially more than a week's life, and like I said, less work! I'm going to start working straight after I upload! No third strike on lateness!**


	11. Hiding Amongst the Dead

Chapter 11: Hiding Amongst the Dead

**A/N: That's it! My life is too random for such deadlines! I shall upload when I shall upload from here on… All I'll say is I will still be faithful with writing, and more so than this update because I've simply had another low point in terms of fanfic…**

**Without further ado I shall be more punctual, plus I have a better chain of thought on the chapters following this.**

**ELLEGIRL840816: Finally a new chapter! Really sorry for the delay.**

**DarkAngel1864: Damon shall get back to the boarding house very soon I promise you! As for kicking soldier butts… all in good time…**

**Vampgrl16: Waiting now over!**

**MidnightMoon101: Guess again…**

[Jeremy's POV]

Gunshots sailed over our heads from a gun at the left. If we hadn't got down on the ground we'd have all been dead right then. I had no idea what Ric or Elena was doing. Muffled gunshots came from the right, it sounded wild and none of the bullets were anywhere near us. Two Same-time gunshots came from either side over us.

No more shots…

[Alaric's POV]

As soon as the bullets rang out I froze in place. No one cried. Were they all dead already? This wasn't the cops or crazies, this was the army. I had to stop thinking and get into action as the door was broken open and a _real_ grenade tossed in without the pin. I responded by throwing my vervain grenades. The grenadier didn't expect that! But still he dives around the side to avoid them while I have to run out to Elena to get away from the grenades.

Just in time I got out, and the explosion shatters the glass of the doors and windows with a rush of acrid smoke and burning. I saw Elena slumped on the ground.

"Elena! Are you hurt?" I shouted. She didn't move or reply. The hissing smoke began to crackle into flames. A low droning pulsated within the same direction, gradually rising in pitch and volume. "Elena?" I faltered. She was not moving; I knelt down to search for vital signs.

I let out a breath, they were there.

"Hey you. Check-effing-mate." The officer had run around from the front of the house and wasted no time in being dramatic. He shot me and I howled out in pain and buckled downwards.

[Damon's POV]

I reached the drive for the boarding house; Stefan had called me as soon as Elena told him what was going on with the army call. Caroline wasn't yet talking to me out of shock of my decision. I didn't regret it. She followed alongside me, silently, as soon as she knew her friends were in danger.

The house rumbled and we arrived in time to see a soldier walking toward Alaric as he-

Elena was on the ground.

"Hey you. Check-effing-mate." He aimed his gun at Alaric; I took a swift swipe to his head. He missed Alaric's chest and hit him in the shin before eating dirt.

"Oh, oh _big mistake._" I growled. I stamped on his leg, which made a satisfying sound of shattering pieces. An almost comical flat footprint showed in his leg which split at the sides with wide, spraying wounds. Caroline snapped his neck before I could cause him a slower death. I ignored him and was immediately by Elena and Ric.

Alaric grunted and forced out speech; "She's alive but out cold." He inclined his head to her. If I listened I could hear her heart beating slowly and her long, quiet breaths. Caroline tensed at the sight.

Blood rushed in a fast flow from Alaric's leg and created a viscous network of streams over his leg, rising straight through his ruined jeans which were now stuck tight. She began to see more red than everyone else. I leaped up and stood in her way.

"Go. Are the others alive? Are there more troops? Don't be part of the problem Barbie." I spoke directly into her eyes as though I was compelling her to follow a list. She calmed and stopped breathing to get away from the scent of blood.

"Dammit Damon I'm losing too much blood." Alaric groaned weakly from lips that were fading in color.

"I can see to that." As I had done many times before, I bit into my wrist and fed him before he could pass out. He hitched once before he stopped struggling and forced it down. "There we go. All better."

The tide of crimson ebbed and the rivers dried into cracked deltas. His pants would need throwing away; they stank. Both would be too attractive to the zeds.

"Damon!" Caroline called as she walked with the others, who were all safe judging by their footsteps, "The soldiers shot each other."

"That doesn't make sense, are any alive still?" I replied observing Elena's strange peacefulness in her unconscious, on that thought I addressed Alaric now he was fit again; "Alaric, take her somewhere more comfortable." I gestured to Elena.

Caroline ran back into the woods to where the others still hid. I followed the one faint heart beat from the soon-to-be-dead soldier.

"Why don't I just ask _why exactly_ you and your buddies enjoy killing high school kids?" I drawled with obvious hints of fury at this stupid-

"I didn't. I stopped 'em." He grunted, before coughing up blood.

"Tell me exactly what you intended to do in the lead up to and action of firing on those people." I compelled.

"I saw that killing minors was too bad so I did not fire at them. I fired at my comrades to save the kids. They fired back before they died. I do not regret my choice." He stared blankly.

"Good. I'll put you out of your misery then." He didn't have enough time to gauge the sentence and died with a bemused and dazed look on his face.

"Damon!" Alaric yelled, "The house is on fire!" Then another explosion blasted from away in the direction of where the droning sounded.

"What is it, July the fourth?" I despaired sarcastically at all the flames and explosions that had happened today.

[Jim's POV]

I stood alone on Route 85 into Atlanta. The inflow of refugees and outflow of paranoid people, people finding home and family, and services were gone. No movement. No wind. No walkers. I turned to face Atlanta; the lights were lit, including the Peachtree Westin Plaza which was meant to have lost power in a freak traffic accident.

I then saw a beautiful girl. She had dark hair and darker eyes. She looked in wonder and confusion at where she was, until she laid eyes on me, Jim the mechanic.

"Where am I?" She asked, pausing on the "where".

"Atlanta." I replied, smiling softly.

"Where is everyone? Who are you?" She looked around for movement and found none, same as me.

"I don't know. I hoped you knew. I'm Jim." I extended my hand.

"Elena." She shook my hand and smiled politely. She frowned before asking with exasperation, "What I don't understand is how I got from Mystic, to here."

"Oh… I understand now. You came into my dream. I see things before they happen sometimes. I don't know why. We will meet again Elena, probably here, in Atlanta. I look forward to it." I spoke slowly, expecting she would likely deny what she was hearing.

"I'm getting used to the supernatural. You don't know just how much I believe and understand you." She sighed. I looked at her face as though looking would reveal her understanding… but briefly all I saw was blood and jagged-incisors.

"I have to take watch now. We should move to the FEMA soon. Our home isn't so safe anymore." I began apologetically.

"Consider yourself lucky. Mystic Falls is dead." Elena deadpanned.

"I'm sorry to hear that." His voice wavered and faded to a whisper as fireworks flew over the city.

[Elena's POV]

I woke to see everyone looking down at me anxiously, except for Katherine who stood to the side. I pinched my forehead to cling to my dream.

"Elena, how do you feel?" Stefan asked anxiously.

"Fine… I feel like I just slept normally. Why are we all in Stefan's room?" I asked, completely perplexed.

"I hate answering with another question…" Damon drawled, scratching his head, "but how did you fall asleep?" His face would have made me giggle it was so confused, but everyone would just be worried if I became hysterical. My face became pinched as I reached for an answer. All I could remember was that before I blacked out I was overwhelmed.

"I was overwhelmed. I'm not sure. I just… blacked out." I answered truthfully. "How long was I sleeping?"

"Not long, but in five minutes something exploded, five army gunmen died, and we put out a fire in the hallway that is now _coated_ in vervain." He grimaced almost painfully at the word. "I'm going to see what exploded." He stated finally.

"Damon, I'm going with you." Stefan added.

"Suit yourself…" Damon glanced at me expecting a reaction as he shrugged in acceptance of Stefan.

"Me too." I declared. A ripple of disagreement flowed outwards in a circle around me.

"No Elena. You stay here and be a good little birdie. Save the big bird for us." Stefan countered adamantly in a strange riddle that was completely out of character. He then realized what he had said, and paled. A sweat had broken out at some point and his hair was falling slick with grease while his face had the faint trace of a familiar oily sheen. It was almost as though he hadn't washed for a few days, but he had showered just this morning. I had heard him.

"Stefan. Do you want to sit this one out? You look a bit shaken up." Alaric cautioned concern for his friend's well-being and knowing that Stefan could keep everyone safe if he stayed behind.

"He's infected. He's got the zombie disease." Tyler blurted, he had arrived at some point in my sleep with the others.

"Ty, no. He's not sick," I deadpanned, "just because he said something _different _doesn't make him dying or ill." Damon had left during the short exchange. I moved to the door to follow him but Stefan grasped my wrist softly but holding firm. My posture sagged slightly and I turned into his chest to wait for Damon to come back.

_Aboard Dulles Flight over Mystic Falls_

Anxious alarms of the growing cabin fire sounded around the cockpit as Captain Anderson attempted to force an emergency landing. The cockpit door dented with the force of the passengers on the other side.

"Preparing an emergency landing!" Anderson announced over the communications. Still no reply. Just moments before the plane took off it was announced by FAA that flights were being cancelled and that much of the continental US was a no-fly zone to prevent infection spread. After that the radio systems from most of the airports winked out. Some small airports and the constant chatter of frightened small-time, small-town plane pilots like himself bounced off the radio. But official radio was grinding to a halt. Risking the military channels was a bad idea considering that planes with known infected were being hunted down, their passengers and crew executed. Only military aircraft were allowed to fly. At request of Francis and Gregory Deveaux, the pilot of their private jet agreed to ignore the FAA so that they could escape the gathering hoards that engulfed Dulles Airport.

Not long into the flight, one of the passengers died, after a _freakily_ short time, she woke up and began devouring the Deveaux family and their company. Now all of these walkers were trying to break in and eat John Anderson.

If he could manage to land the plane, he could escape via a very unregulated- no- not-at-all regulated breaking through the cockpit window. Thank golly it wasn't a huge _Delta_ airliner like he used to work for. There was a long, straight highway on the horizon, didn't seem to be gridlocked as it stood outside some small Virginia town.

He continued to descend over the forest, spotting a Tudor mansion of some sort. Less than a few minutes before landing.

The cockpit door dented twice more before it imploded on the weight of the walkers with a groaning of what sounded like rusted bedsprings, and four sharp, dull "snaps", they swarmed on Anderson, and in blind panic he jumped away from the chair and ran for the cabin, by a midget distance he escaped that grizzly ending.

"Oh crap, the plane!" He roared. In his haste to escape being dinner he had hit the steering. He dived a split second before the plane collided with some old pines. A direct hit with a trunk crushed the cockpit and most of the walkers, the jolt sliding him toward the front and bloodying his nose.

The plane came to a stop. Swaying slightly in the wind and creaking branches. John climbed into a seat and belted himself in. As he had predicted in the short moments between movements the branches began to give way. He was surprised the woods had held the Hawker; it was still a midsize jet! The walkers didn't manage to get past the cockpit door before the plane plummeted to the bed of pine needles and debris below. The crushing seatbelt forced up vomit. A brief flash of light appeared as his head smashed into the seat in front. John was strong enough to will himself not to pass out, when other, weaker men may have died from the crash. He unbelted himself and slumped against the seat in front. Trees held the plane so that it was balanced on its broken nose. All the electronics had shorted and he would have to climb up seating like a ladder to reach the escape hatch. The door was now a crumpled twist of metal down on the forest floor with the cockpit. Melting plastic reached his nose in all its acridness and deep heady odor of poison.

"Forget poison!" He grunted angrily. The impending explosion he anticipated would kill him before the cabin filled with noxious gases. After opening the latch partially, he began beating and kicking the door open. Some computer equipment in the cockpit exploded with a muffled pop. Smoke began rising. A second pop caused all the circuitry to spark, igniting some surrounding objects.

"Need some help?" A condescending voice of a man called from below. John looked slowly down, and scowled at his smirk.

"No. Course not." He scoffed. The man raised an eyebrow slowly and deliberately.

"I disagree. Your leather furniture is catching fire; your former passengers are clawing in there too. I would have thought you need some help by now."He drawled matter-of-factly. Like a superhero he leaped to stand beside John at the door.

"How did you-?" John was near speechless at the man's seemingly inhuman leap up. He smiled a smile that held darker undertones and stared hard into John's eyes. They were a sort of near grey, they could be blue…

"I'm going to help you down, and then the plane fumes will make you forget how you got down. But I helped." He deadpanned to John who could only stare dumbly.

"Damned cabin fumes…" John muttered blankly once they were on the ground. The man smirked slightly. Once John turned to thank him the man had already disappeared impossibly fast. There was nothing to it now but to walk in the direction of the mansion.

[Damon's POV]

I arrived in the parlor to find everything was similar to how I had left it. Elena had buried her face in Stefan's chest and they had that couch to themselves. Katherine watched Stefan longingly until she noticed me. Alaric eyed a glass of bourbon listlessly, Bonnie, Tyler, Caroline and Jeremy saw me first, and they had been waiting for me to tell them about the explosion.

"A business jet crashed half a mile away." I announced abruptly, making Stefan and Elena start. Stefan had been asleep. "Only the pilot was alive, the passengers were walkers."

"Did you help him?" Alaric asked cynically. I frowned

"Well yeah. That's what good people like I should do." I drawled. Alaric's face showed his assumption. "Yes. I helped him down. I felt generous today." I really did. At least I won't see the guy again. Unless, he saw the house from above, the sun was setting. He might have the nerve to try and book a room.

Footsteps sounded up the drive.

"Did you just leave him then?" Alaric asked, relieved that I had done anything at all for the man.

"Well-"The man knocked on the door, "He seems to have followed me." I inclined my head to the front door and waited whilst Alaric went to answer the door.

"I hate to disturb you at this hour, but my plane I was flying, kinda, well, crashed into a tree not too far from here."

"We heard it." Alaric deadpanned.

"I'm guessin' you know about the walkers?" The pilot asked slowly and unsurely.

"Yeah." Alaric replied flatly.

"If I'm not welcome here, do you know the nearest motel?"

"Sorry. You should stay here for the night, we have enough rooms. We just have some problems to deal with. I wouldn't go into the cellar if I were you." Alaric began.

"There's a lot of _blood_ down there I'm afraid. Very messy." I added, ghosting behind Ric.

"Whoa shit. It's you. Thanks again for saving me. I'm John, err, Anderson." He held out his hand to shake, I declined. "Right… So is it just you guys?"

[John's POV]

I walked into the house; it looked like there was an attack here at some point. Some blood and smoked walls from a bomb of some kind. I walked into the parlor room to see the other people that were staying here.

"Hi…" I greeted everyone in the room calmly. "Sorry about crashing my plane half a mile from this house. There were the undead aboard." I explained apologetically. Some of them smirked, the guy that saved me outright snorted. "What." I muttered. I decided to look at the various vintage objects around the room. "Well, nice place. But I have some bad news for you." As I turned I noticed the air in the room tense. I stepped aside to allow them to see the woods.

One of the girls cried out softly. The twins gasped. The man from the front door sighed heavily. Zombies were walking up from the town to investigate the crash, crowds of them walking past the house. A few of them saw us and began advancing toward the house.

"Get away from the windows!" The doorman shouted, this turned more heads toward the house from outside. We dove into corners of the room away from the infested side of the house where the windows were.

"They're following each other." The younger guy with dark hair breathed. He looked the youngest one here. I risked a look, and saw he was right. Most of the crowd was moving toward the windows. To everyone's absolute horror, somewhere in the house, a window smashed.

"They're in the front rooms." The man that saved me warned with anger and a hint of dread. Maybe that was just my own fear talking. This guy had an expression that seemed as though the undead attacking his house was a daily occurrence.

_His house?_

It seemed like it was his house, he had an air of authority and a breadwinner look. Doorman however appeared to be a visitor with these kids.

"Where's Stefan?" The twin with straightened hair asked with absolute anxiety, she looked around for Stefan.

"His room." The breadwinner/savior replied. In response, a door slammed against a wall. Footsteps down stairs could be heard followed by a hollow crack. Instantly, almost, a man with short brown hair stood in the doorway. His heavy-set eyebrows showed the grimmest look of hopelessness, sticky perspiration clung to the ends of his brow and fringe. He ran a hand through his hair to slick back the hair. He looked infected, or alternatively, down with a nasty bout of influenza.

"They walk up the drive as though they followed us. One man looks familiar to a dead person from the highway. We are trapped. Boxed in as though we are animals in a trap. They are everywhere." He grated against pain. Though normally the infected were bedridden in his state. He even seemed lucid. Albeit eccentric language, but at least he made sense. I had seen people ranting about shoelaces at this stage. "Damon, will you please aid me in escorting our group to the wine cellar?" He began lapsing into the overt prestige of a gentleman. He sounded crazy already.

"Stefan! Wake up!" Breadwinner shouted desperately.

"He's right, Damon, we should go to the cellar, the cells should work and they kept in- people-" Doorman began, casting a not-unnoticed and furtive glance in my direction, "They will hold against the walkers.

"You've got cells!" I blurted. Breadwinner, who I began to think was called Damon, ignored my outburst. The youngest kid then jumped up.

"C'mon!" He slurred in a panicked frenzy, and bolted.

"Jeremy!" Someone shouted, everyone jumped up. Stefan began to look impatient and cast worried glances to the door he came in through. He looked as though we were late for afternoon tea with the lord of the mansion rather than forming a plan to escape the dead at our door.

"STEFAN LOOK OUT!" The straight-haired twin screamed. His eyes focused and he was back in the room.

"What's wrong Elena?" He yelled overly loud. In an inhuman blur the blonde woman threw him aside as a walker lunged for where he had been. The other girls ran in the direction of Jeremy. The blonde looked stunned and froze to the spot. Stefan looked set to faint, but shook his head and splattered sweat all over the blonde. Damon smacked the walker at a similarly inhuman speed and the dark haired guy that had before done and said nothing moved to the blonde.

"We need to go!" He warned. Stefan and Elena looked at me as the blonde and the dark haired guy left for the cellar. I stumbled into action, in a numb sort of thinking stupor. We rushed past the corpse and through to a dingy cellar staircase. The floor looked like packed dirt as we rushed for the cells. Right there, Jeremy stood at a barred doorway, waiting for us. Having run off like he did, he looked ashamed enough. An uproar of smashing windows, doors, crockery, and furniture began upstairs as the dead broke in. We closed the cell door and listened. Less was being broken, but the sound of glass and pot being broken underfoot was still loud. Something heavy and wooden toppled to the ground above. An irregular rising and falling crescendo of unholy choirs played like a sticky record. No one dared speak. A single knock against the door reached us. In response another knock followed, louder. A flat palm smack against the door replied and other palms joined in. A walker crashed against the door. A louder and faster drumbeat developed into furious bashing. In the horror of the moment somebody pissed themselves in terror. We were trapped like crows in hell. A subtle "chit!" was squeaked from the door in protest. Something very heavy hit the door and dented it; the voices of the walkers became fractionally clearer amidst more door protests, and heavier bashing.

"Everybody. Get down." I whispered as loud as I could manage in my own panic. We all crouched as one final crack broke the lock; the door swung open; a mass of bodies poured into the stairwell with gushes and splits and flumps of the various sounds of undead bodies being broken by yet more undead bodies. The walkers made harsh "ack" noises to accompany the creaking, moaning crescendo. Animalistic growls came from all directions and grunts as the collapsed bodies picked themselves up and filled the cellar with noise and the rotten smell of all the worst landfills and trash cans and dumpsters in the world. A barred metal door protected us from them, and I didn't even know if that was enough. We turned to look at each other. Everyone was a gritty, milky color from terror and soot. Stefan's face was marked with tracks of sweat and possibly tears, he was unconscious. Damon's face looked blank; there wasn't a single bit of emotion. He stared at everyone, until he frowned slightly at Elena. Everyone else, and I, looked like a mix of fatigue and the petrified denial of death when it hung over our shoulders like a heavy jacket.

We remained in that position for minutes, hours. The undead continued hunting the house and found little. The room began to empty and the stale, rotten air began to settle like thick fog. The crescendo had faded to a sigh with feedback rubbing the wrong way. Walkers had been quite successful in masking our own bodily stink of piss-yourself fear and anxiety sweating.

With that inhuman predatory stealth, Damon didn't seem the average breadwinner any more. But using it to his best he checked for walkers. He flashed four fingers, before pointing to the doorway. Alaric was first to shake his head, whilst Tyler and Elena looked fairly defiant and wanted to try an escape anyway. I would rather wait before facing those hungry geeks. The wavy haired twin seemed most nervous. We could hear them breathing in that loud, hoarse way like they had fluid in their air pipes. One fell to the ground whilst the others began making their way out of the cellar. In response, Damon held his index finger. He opened the door silently and when I blinked he was already gone. He slugged the walker to the ground and returned with a small blood splatter on his jacket. He casually wiped it off.

"There are a lot upstairs. I'll need your help Caroline and Stefan-" He froze and his face was very pale. We all looked to Stefan. "We need to get him out of here. He's breathing still, so that means he's still putting in the effort. Katherine, help me carry him." Damon hoisted him over one shoulder haphazardly. When Katherine began helping they started began to move more freely. Elena cried silently as she watched Stefan's life draining away to the walker sickness. Bonnie and Caroline began trying to console her, encouraging her to keep going;

"He will make it through, Elena. He's not like everyone else. He can't die twice." I tried to work out what that meant- "We need to leave the house before we become trapped here and die."

"C'mon 'Lena. He will need you as much as we do." Caroline added. Elena nodded and bit her lip as she stood uncertainly.

We started climbing the stairs, listening for the walkers. Upstairs, despite the crashes earlier, was still quite tidy. Large furniture had been moved or overturned, and a few paintings and wall-mounted furnishings were knocked off. A walker stood with its back to us. It looked too ragged from behind to be defined as man or woman; instead it was drab with sparse, once-blonde hair and dirty beige clothes. A child in blue t-shirt and khaki shorts saw us and growled. Damon took a quick glance to us before choosing to place the child-walker aside rather than killing him.

"No Damon. You can't leave him like that." Elena turned her face, frozen in a cold dread and horror. A clearly audible boom and crack was heard, but we had all looked away whilst Damon was carefully blank.

We followed Caroline and him through the parts of the house that had fewer walkers. Two were killed from being slam-dunked against the wall or floor, leaving dirty red smears and grey matter. The house sighed and groaned. Without any serious incident, we made it out of the house.

Damon turned, speaking up to us; "We need to leave Mystic Falls."

"Where do you propose we go? Especially with Stefan as he is. I don't know how long he can go on without help." Alaric warned with an edge to his voice.

"We will need your car…" Damon half-replied, half-mused. Stefan coughed and snorted, choosing now to get back onto his feet.

"My head, it burns with cold." He grunted. Elena grabbed a hold of him tightly.

"I've been _so_ worried about you." She whimpered. He just tried for a smile, but grimaced and pinched the bridge of his nose before rubbing his forehead.

"Welcome back Stefan." Damon added bluntly, "the house has been overrun with… _walkers_, so we're taking Alaric's car, and yours – sorry – and we are heading to a friend's in Georgia. Just outside of Atlanta. If anyone knows what's going on and it's supernatural, they will."

**A/N: This computer hasn't blown up yet and I have holidays and a much more organized school/revision plan, so no overlap into fanfic! I will update soon!**

**Thank you for reading! Reviews mean a lot to me! I think without any I would probably stop writing, the more reviews the more motivation! And thank you for all the alerts and favourites! :D**


	12. The Road

Chapter 12: The Road

**A/N: and so Mystic Falls is left behind in its complete and utter infestation, the boarding house left empty save for some winding down walkers, and the town square a battle ground between the living and the dead. Word of warning, this chapter is just a tad gorier. Also a little more profane in language, but this is after all Vampire Diaries **_**and **_**Walking Dead, so there's more to it than drinking blood and pulling out hearts.**

**DarkAngel1864: I hope Damon does not disappoint this time around too! Much less painful encounters for Ric, and Elena doesn't get a lot stronger I'm afraid!**

**ELLEGIRL840816: Well, Atlanta grows nearer, and so does Glenn so we'll see!**

[John's POV]

As the group made final preparations to leave, every one took the time to all give brief little introductions to me, mostly just their names but sometimes with a calm word and Jeremy even pointed out that my piloting skills could come in handy. Stefan, we found out, had gone away to pack bags for everyone during his time out of the parlor and kitchen, paranoid at what could happen. It looked like his paranoia was very helpful indeed.

After this the others fussed over each other save for Alaric and I who didn't have anyone to worry for as much, we managed to remain more observant, noticing Damon disappear through the door of the mansion. Judging by what we were doing next, this could be his last time in a long time.

"He is putting down the walkers." Alaric informed me as we watched. He seemed to swagger inside with a smug confidence of his power over the undead, but as soon as I saw his desolate expression it was instead barely penned rage at what the monsters had done to his house and friends.

"What is his problem exactly? I mean to say he's freaking fast and strong like a pro-wrestler. Err, Caroline too."

"That's not for me to tell." He forewarned. Damon returned with grim satisfaction.

"More are coming from town," He announced simply, "Let's go." Damon finished everyone's anxious worrying for each other. The twins however had good reason. Shortly after sitting down in the back of his vintage Porsche, Stefan passed out again. This time he did not breathe. The only way anybody could tell he was not truly dead (however short that death would end up being was anyone's guess) was that every few minutes a painfully audible intake of breath followed by a low moan would escape from the car. Alaric moved to discuss the road ahead with Damon.

[Alaric's POV]

"What are we going to do about him? He sounds like he won't make it out of Mystic." I asked, perplexed and fearful for Elena, it was impossible for her not to sit with Stefan in the same car.

"What are you trying to say Ric? We leave him here?" Damon retorted.

"You know that's not what I meant." I replied shortly,

"I do?" Damon was almost feverish with anger.

"Just watch he doesn't do anything to Elena, I will drive the stake through his heart and then yours if she gets hurt. We have no idea what this disease is; it might not even be a disease. Just because vampires are dead doesn't mean they can't die and come back twice." I paused. He stood and watched me with visible menace.

"Be careful. We go to your friend in Georgia. If that doesn't work we go to Atlanta and find help." I added.

"Good. We all have cell phones if we find trouble. Let's go before the merry townsfolk greet our doorstep."

We returned to our cars.

[John's POV]

My hearing must be going, or I'm just going crazy.

Of Alaric and Damon's interaction, which I heard most of, I swear I heard them say _vampire_. C'mon that's ridiculous. I don't want to be crazy or deaf, but hearing them right isn't any better. Is that what they think the walkers are? Or is that what the super-athletes are?

Death at the hands of Draculas' or at the hands of zombies? The second one is scarily realistic these days.

"Everyone get in." Alaric waved everyone to the SUV whilst Katherine skulked to her own car rather than sit with us in Alaric's SUV.

Damon intended to drive Stefan and Elena in the Porsche.

We entered out cars solemnly. Gravel crunched under tires as we pulled away from the mansion for the last time in a long time. We quickly reached the rough backwoods roads.

In spite of the end of the world it was a sultry, light evening. Clouds hung as though they were decorations, rays of light brought the dark forest to a faint glow. In our car sat Alaric and me up front, whilst Bonnie, Caroline and Tyler sat in the next road and Jeremy in the back with the meager luggage. "We follow Damon to Georgia, and if there is trouble, we use our phones." Alaric explained as we descended the hill.

"Signal's dead." Jeremy grumbled. Alaric frowned.

"Alright, everyone check their phones. Somebody's got to have a signal." He pulled over to check for a signal on his own phone. I had left my normal cell at Dulles. Damn. Many dollars of Apple. Looking over I saw Alaric's cell had a signal, but only weak.

"Mine works… oh. No." Caroline muttered.

"I'm out of my own service, but I picked up another company. Every moment is an emergency so charges won't matter." Bonnie told everyone.

"Nah." Tyler grunted, switching off his own phone.

"2 out of 6 with signals, that's good enough." We began driving again, Damon pulling out at seemingly the same time in front, Katherine behind. Nobody spoke again, watching the forest with angst instead. The innocent rays of sunlight were pretty guilty of blocking the view past a few meters of each side of the road.

Damon stopped the car. Alaric slammed the breaks to stop a crash; luckily we didn't go into a ditch.

"Could 'a given us some warning much?" I snapped I was so tense.

"He's seen something in the woods." Alaric murmured. A bloody soldier stumbled into the road, firing two handgun shots before throwing the gun down. He began hammering the window of the SUV, crying muffled words through his skewed gas mask.

"Sheaffermee!" He managed to shout a little more clearly. _She_? Who-

A wild and furious woman carrying a stake of all weapons charged at the man. Her fairly long, dark hair that looked brunette, maybe black, but that could be the dying light, hid much of her face save for an almost malevolent look at this soldier.

Her furious cry could be heard through the windows;

"You bastard! You try to hurt my family I'll fucking kill you!" She propelled him hard against Ric's door. He jerked as she stabbed him in the waist with the stake. A spot where there was less armor. She then thrust the stake into his leg, buckling him to the ground. With the other end of the stake she whacked him over the head, to little effect on his hard helmet, which she pulled off as he writhed to escape. Damon stood outside his car watching with folded arms, his stance impassive. Alaric dared not to open the door.

A question mark of blood hit the driver window. A low_ thunk_ sounded where she finished him off with a stab that went through to the door. The woman looked at the dent, and then at Alaric.

"Hah. Sorry." She laughed without humor to Alaric. As she turned to leave she smirked at Damon, giving him a jaunty salute, she strode back up the hill to wear a blonde man stood, lowering his gun. They quickly disappeared from view.

Damon climbed back into his car, smirking himself. The procession of cars began moving again.

"Jesus. That was wild!" I exclaimed.

"That soldier must have done something really bad." Caroline muttered.

"They tried to kill everyone. That's bad enough." Jeremy replied. We continued down the road, finding a sinister blood trail that had poured from the forest before drying on the road. It was only big enough to be seen but not in the churned ditch to the side of the road. Yet further along military tools were scattered.

Our car scattered on the waste of an expended clip. Walkers and someone who looked unlike the zombies surrounding her were left to waste at the roadside.

At the turning we headed away from Mystic Falls, the honest exit standing tall and proud against a backdrop of empty highway and a looted gas station. Alaric's phone rang, and answering, he put it on loudspeaker.

"The road is clear up to the horizon. Quieter than usual." Damon announced.

"Nobody at all?" Alaric asked, perplexed. The cars slowed to well within the speed limit.

"There is one car. There's no one inside it." Damon replied

"Then let's keep going. It's just a car." Jeremy interrupted.

"Jer's right." Elena said to Damon in a faint voice from the back of Stefan's car. Stefan grunted something, as his condition was it was probably not a word at all.

Katherine tooted her little Aston horn, Damon flipped the bird from his driver window and he turned to see her reaction from his window, and smirked.

"So this is why Katherine doesn't ride with her twin." I muttered.

"What?" Alaric replied, somehow confused at what I said. Caroline snickered slightly. I shrugged, pretty much baffled by the reactions.

"They're… not twins." Bonnie responded.

"But… they're identical?" My sentence ended in the high-pitch of a question. Bonnie sighed condescendingly. "Am I missing something? They look alike; sure they wear different clothes and hair and eye makeup…" I listed off the differences save for that_ look _of Katherine's.

"They're doppelgangers." Alaric answered. We passed the abandoned car. There was thick forest on either side of the road and only hills, rough and jagged with pine branches, in the distance.

"Go on…" Damon verbally prodded, amused by it all.

"Do we have to explain this? Is it even our secret to tell?" Elena added before Bonnie could finish her intake of breath to explain. Damon chuckled.

"Why don't we call Grandma Kath?" Damon suggested half-seriously.

"What do you want, Damon?" Katherine answered to a phone on the other line, also on loudspeaker.

"We were hoping you would explain the Petrova doppelgangers to us." He asked. In reply, Katherine hung up. "Well John, Katherine Pierce doesn't want to tell. Perhaps we should wait until we stop. Or just tell you." Damon returned the silent opinion.

"It would be nice to know… but I'd really rather not-" I began to stop them until Damon butted in again with another sneer at Katherine.

"No, no. Katherine is a _bitch_. Best to let you down before she wraps you around her finger." He chortled. "What do you think of witches?" He asked rhetorically.

"It's a religion I suppose…" I mused.

"It's _magical powers. _Ooo…" The ghost noise didn't exactly improve my belief. "Do you believe in magic John? I bet you don't believe in _vampires_ either."

"Huh? Vampires? Witches? What is this…?" My skepticism shone through. Bonnie suddenly looked pissed. A blast of hot air from the air con smacked me into my seat. Wasn't expecting that. "Whatever kind of crack you're on. Jeez. I don't do supernatural."

"Damon, don't agitate him. I'm sure we'll need a pilot at some point." Alaric retorted humorously.

"Suit yourself…"Damon hung up. I huffed and looked out of the window. Katherine tooted her horn again.

"What does _she _want?" Caroline wondered aloud. We looked behind to see her inclining her head to the car from earlier pulling up behind her Aston. It was a shady guy in an old checked jacket and a trucker cap was following whilst yakking into a cell phone. Then he stops and stares at his phone, tosses it aside. He waves an arm at us as if to say _what are you looking at?_ So we turned back to face the road.

"So we're being followed by a woodsman. No big deal." Tyler interjected.

"_So_ helpful." Alaric grumbled.

"Do you mind if I…?" I inclined to turn the radio dial. Alaric replied with a simple _go ahead_ gesture. The car interior was greeted with static. I begin tuning slowly down from the highest setting. A moment of anticipation struck us when the tiniest flicker of a signal sparked, but it didn't hold out at all.

"The power's down. None of the radios can work." Jeremy added. The irony of the moment when a reverberating radio station startup sound filled the car. Four tones were then followed by a gruff, slightly more southern voice.

"This is the emergency broadcast system direct from Atlanta city center. If you are hearing this message you are in range of one of our radio towers. Proceed, with extreme caution, to Atlanta where you will be met by hospitable authorities at the refugee centers and checkpoints. Our center for operations and refugees is the commercial building, _Westin Plaza_, recognizable as being the cylindrical glass skyscraper structure. Before you proceed, we have to confirm the defensive action taken by our US government's military in an attempt to counter the outbreaks of this most debilitating disease and the attacks by infected persons. There have been reports of civilian casualties. These incidences were unavoidable under the circumstances, and so it is strongly advised that slow and organized entry into the main access routes to Atlanta city, Georgia, is taken.

With regard to the disease in itself symptoms and measures to protect yourself and others are outlined. Avoid contact with hostile infected, and isolate all those whom are infected with this disease. It is _imperative_ that you do not get bitten. If you, or any other person, are bitten, then you or the other person MUST be isolated at once to halt infection. Bitten and infected citizens will not gain entry to Atlanta and will be turned away. If in the later stages of the disease then infected persons will be shot on sight. In order to safely destroy the infection and avoid attack from the infected person, the destruction of the brain, right above the neck, must be carried out swiftly." The soldier coughed almost apologetically, "Burnin' works too.

Evacuation centers are being posted across the states to the designated cities; please find your local government municipal center such as schools, churches and civil services in order to seek evacuation to safer places."

A robot sort-of voice then announced "this message will repeat after 5 seconds." Cue the four tones.

"Damn. Atlanta sounds a good deal, but what about Stefan, he's gonna get shot!" I called out. Caroline whimpered slightly. The trees began to spread into rough meadows of grass and brush. A sign that was slightly askew read off miles to the next towns, _Willowbank_ being the closest at 12 miles. I began to start finding as many things to drive out the strange thoughts about vampires as possible. After all, _surely_ they're just crazy, or fans of that vampire film. If vampires existed, people would know from experience and the news, _unless there was a cover-up_- goddammit.

"How far are we to Atlanta?" I asked, exacerbated at my own conflicted thoughts.

"A day or two?" Caroline suggested.

"That's about accurate. Probably more if we have trouble with walkers." Alaric elaborated. "Before we left Mystic Falls the dead had overrun the town. It started at the hospital and spread like a fire. We all made it out alive except for Matt, and Stefan got bit on the main highway. He will live. Stefan isn't your normal, weak guy."

"Right…" I answered carefully.

"He has a _special_ diet." Tyler added. Alaric turned quickly and gave him a warning look.

Ahead was a small gas station along with the sign for Willowbank. Behind a cluster of hedgerows was a huge plume of smoke. Further along the road were some partially scorched houses and shriveled grass. A group of walkers stood outside one house and two more were eating a heap of bodies at another below a gazebo coated in ash. The floor was specked with more ash, and some small pieces of wood from houses lay around the road and in the trees.

The gas station itself had fared better, with a big square of ground clear of ash and debris. A dumpster had been overturned, and the remains of spoiled food had been almost completely eaten. The forecourt was filled with cars and a toey which was sticking awkwardly out of a garage; it had crashed into a car which was once a luxury import from Europe. A gas station worker had perished to save the station; he had caught fire after pushing a burning van off of the site onto a verge, where he and the van had charred the ground. A police cruiser blocked the entrance to the forecourt and inside was a lot of empty ammo boxes. Everyone must have fled while some cops took down walkers that had wandered the station. Damon pulled up to the only pump with no cars in the way. We pulled in behind.

"Two things; one, Stefan's Porsche is out of gas, and two, I think," he spoke quietly so that only Alaric, Katherine and I could hear, "Stefan is going to die." Alaric frowned, his face dark as he looked down.

"How are you sure?" He questioned grimly.

"For a while now he hasn't moved at all. Sometimes he bursts out, wide awake, he's in agony." Damon replied bleakly.

"Then make Bonnie heal him. Simple-"Katherine snapped.

"Why don't you just _think_ Katherine? If I thought for _a second_ that we could do anything for him I would be on it like that." He roared, smacking his hands together almost into her face. She blinked in reaction and looked set to murder him.

Elena ran up to us. "What's happening?" She cried, seeing Damon so angry. Damon turned, and he looked at her so hopelessly that tears sprang to her eyes. He shook his head weakly.

"It's Stefan." He said so completely dejectedly- he seemed defeated. He began to walk away to the service station store. Elena grabbed his arm.

"Is Stefan dying?" She whispered. She looked so small as she stood next to him, weakened by the impending loss of her lover.

"Yes. I'm so sorry Elena." He cupped her face sympathetically. After a moment's hesitation, she collapsed into him with grief. Everyone gave Elena and Damon their space as they shared despair. Bonnie was completely blank whilst Caroline barely composed herself, sobbing twice. Tyler, Alaric, Jeremy and I were stony-faced and solemn. Katherine looked visibly weaker. Damon and Caroline stiffened and looked toward a grove of trees. Jeremy, Caroline and Bonnie moved to comfort Elena as Damon pulled slowly away to advance upon the trees. One of the bushes rustled. He ran and pulled out a scrawny teen.

"Oh shit! Get offa me! Get offa me!" The kid cried, his greasy mop flopping like a panicking rabbit as he squirmed.

"You should think about who you plan on shooting and robbing." Damon deadpanned. He carried the kid and chucked him at an abandoned blue sedan's side. "Were you after Katherine's car? Or were you just going to steal everything?" He smashed his fist through the door beside the boy's head, making the boy piss his pants. A yellow-tinged puddle spread across the ground.

A loud pop sounded from more hedges, splattering the kid with blood as a direct head shot caused Damon to slump against him.

I gasped and then choked as the bullet hole _sealed itself_ and Damon roared in rage, plunging his fist through the boy's chest and scattering flesh and the heart across the interior of the sedan. He leaped up and blurred into the bush and killing the sharpshooter. In the same amount of time and assortment of rough rednecks dressed in expensive, but bloody, mountain gear appeared, surrounding the forecourt.

"Take no prisoners! That fast fucker killed the bait and 'e's taken out Don! Le's murder 'em all!" A man with buzzed hair, piggish, shrewd eyes and a checkered shirt with the sleeves torn off and jeans full of holes bellowed the command to action and the other rednecks began charging at us. We all ducked as some of them began shooting wildly. But they froze as a redneck-woman screamed until her scream broke into hysterics and throttled shrieks. She managed to cry one word.

"Walker!" We all turned and some of the braver rednecks went to save her, in shock everyone stopped.

Stefan was tearing her to pieces and forcing each chunk of destroyed flesh into his mouth. His entire body racked with a fury and fervor to devour her, and his skin was marked with wrinkled networks of black veins. At some point in the shooting he had broken the back window and climbed out. And now, with the speed of any human, not walker, he gorged on his first human meal.

When her cries silenced to the sound of ripping, squelching meat, and spraying blood, Stefan ate ravenously. He stopped, stiffened, and stood slowly up, then whirling around and staring at us all with empty, entirely black eyes. His pupils had dilated so incredibly so that no white or iris remained. They were impossibly wide. He smacked his lips once, sizing up his prey.

**A/N: And next time, more gore, more punctuality, more death and destruction. I will try my best not to kill anyone too popular! No promises! ;)**

**Review please! Really happy to be seeing more people alerting and favouriting my fanfic!**


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